Death's x A x Joke
by RamenStarr
Summary: "Careful," I said, voice still calm, but I'm sure my eyes gave away my promise of wrath. "You shouldn't gamble with your life so carelessly. You only get one after all..." I said, smiling with mirth at my own little joke. Ajin!OC, Guren Freecss.
1. Chapter 1

**DON'T SKIP THIS NOTE PLEASE**

**Here's my newest warm-up project. It's different to what I'm used to writing, and is def going to have some uncomfortable themes in it. That's the warning. The main focus is my oc's POV, and sometimes maybe a couple others here and there, but mostly hers. Oh, and this is kind of an HxH x Ajin crossover, because I just can't get enough of that damn anime/manga xD**

**Again, this is going to have some uncomfortable stuff; older man/young girl, self mutilation, sadomasochism, suicide, plain ole blood and gore, and lot's of creepiness (because Hisoka). If you're not comfortable with that, it's OKAY. You don't gotta read this. I ship a lot of older man/younger woman couples, but even this is way out of my comfort zone. I'm writing this because of that, it's practice to write different things, and I haven't quite written something as creepy as this yet. My Ajin fic came close, but at least that Kairi is 17. This will be my first fic shipping someone under 16.**

**Here's a quick character summary:**

**Guren is the twin sister of Gon. Exceptions: Her hair is plain ebony unlike Gon's black and green, and is spiky like his, only not styled up (a sketch of her will be at my deviantart page at psychodoll-behindyou) Her eyes are big like Gon's, but red instead of brown.**

**Her outfit is also identical, only red and black, with shorter, fitting shorts and a jacket vest over a black sleeveless shirt.**

**Guren was actually believed to be stillborn after she was born right after Gon, but by a miracle she lived, to her parents and doctor's relief. This was actually the first time she awakened her nen, and her immortality.**

**That's right, Guren is a Ajin. Not that she knows that, or what nen is. She only discovered her immortality the same day she discovered her ibm. The fateful day that Gon got attacked by a mama fox-bear, was the day her ibm first appeared. Guren's only thought that day was to get away to safety, but her ibm didn't consider Gon in the panicked feeling, and escaped with Guren in it's arms.**

**Guren was scared for herself being in the arms of a scary being and scared for Gon, and tried to escape it's strong arms, but her shouted orders for it to let her go backfired. It dissolved, dropping her and she couldn't stop from tumbling down a steep hillside, breaking bones against many trees on her way down.**

**Her first death was an accident, and when she awoke, she knew that she was supposed to be dead.**

**After that she worked to discover more about her ability, including summoning the thing that both saved and killed her, befriending it once she realized it held no ill-intent.**

**Nobody has ever been able see the ibm, or as Guren had taken to calling it, Sandman or Sandy, as it had a male figure and was made up black sand like substance and black bandages, and her grandmother has always told her and Gon that the sandman is what helps you sleep at night. It's an entity that can't be seen, and that's why you wake up with sandy eyes after a good night's sleep.**

**Guren knows this is just a story now, and that her Sandman isn't the same as the story, but she named him when she was 6 and the name stuck. It was still accurate for some parts, anyway.**

**It was impossible to completely keep Sandy a secret from Gon, who was the light of her life after Ging abandoned them, so she introduced the two of them. Gon can't see him, but the fact that it was something that could be touched and heard was enough proof for him, and they always referred to him as her imaginary friend.**

**That was also the first day Guren discovered that Sandy could speak. When she introduced him to Gon, it surprised the both of them by saying hello with a deep, echoed voice, like it had gravel or dirt stuck in it's lungs.**

**Sandy grew with Guren, it's speech is still limited and sometimes broken, but it can hold conversation and could be brought out up to 4 times a day instead of once like when she was a kid. He's grown to nearly 7 feet tall, has clawed humanoid hands and no facial features. His head is like a human's, just without features. **

**At first he was mostly skeletal, but he's grown some definition like Guren, and has an ambiguous masculine figure, with a heavily muscled upper body and limbs, but with a waist barely bigger than a spine.**

**Guren has matured a lot faster than Gon due to her circumstance. The little 12 year old has frequented rougher parts of town to find the toughest men in pubs and the like and learned to fight by watching a lot of brawls. There wasn't any professional fighters on Whale Island that she could find, so she had to teach herself. She's more of a brawler because of this, and usually will fight dirty (or just with Sandy). It was essential though, she needed to know how to defend herself.**

**Her greatest fear is someone discovering her biggest secret, and taking her away to dissect or experiment on. Or worse, what her beloved big brother would think of her immortality. **

**Gon, Guren, and their new friends Leorio and Kurapika have just started the first phase of the Hunter Exams that Gon has insisted on entering at 12. He desperately wants to find their father, to talk to him, but Guren could care less about Ging. She's becoming a hunter for her own purposes, but plans to help her dear older brother find Ging as much as possible.**

**Lastly, I'm writing this as separate parts unlike what I did for my Sing fic, that way this can actually posted faster. Once I'm done editing this and finish up my Giovanni/Saya chapter's draft, I'm gonna start rewriting chapter 3 for Sing _again._**

**Enjoy, and sorry. (Because...Hisoka)**

**XXX**

I, Guren Freecs, secret immortal, am bored out of my mind.

A couple hours have passed since the start of the first phase, and we've been slowly gaining speed, now full on running instead of jogging. Gon and I had stamina for days, so we're good, but dammit I was _bored!_

I pouted and looked around, trying to find someone to talk to or entertain me. Kurapika and Leorio didn't really want to talk just for the hell of it, they mostly wanted to save their breath. Well, Leorio, mostly. He was really starting sweat.

People have started dropping like flies, one guy in front of my brother and I literally just went from a sprint to dropping in exhaustion like a puppet with his strings cut. We managed to evade him...well, Gon jumped over him, but I kind of used his back like a stepping stone. Accidentally!

I sighed loudly in exasperation, earning annoyed looks from the boys around me. Well, except my brother, he knew how I could get when I was bored.

"Well, I'm bored." _Obviously. _"I'm going to run up ahead for a bit and find someone to entertain me. Later!"

I quickly sprinted ahead, ignoring the "Wait!" from Kurapika, and smiling at Gon's "Be careful!" I heard Leorio mutter something as well, but couldn't make it out from all his panting.

My scarlet eyes scanned the crowd for fellow participants who weren't having a rough time with the run. I picked out a few, although most of them didn't seem too friendly looking, or a few looked just as bored as me.

There was a short teen with a bow on his back, and a bit further ahead by a creep covered in needles was a bald man in a black and red outfit, his color scheme similar to mine, except reversed.

I mentally shrugged to myself and decided to go with him. He was barely breaking a sweat, maybe he'd be more willing to talk than the archer kid.

I weaved through others effortlessly until I was next to him, and he immediately turned to look at me curiously. I gave him a friendly smile. "Hello! I'm Guren. What's your name?"

He blinked at me, looking taken off guard before returning my smile, just as friendly. "Hello, little one! I am Hanzo! I'm a ninja from Jappon!"

Woah, I wasn't expecting _that. _"You're a ninja?!" I said excitingly. "That's so cool! Can you do any cool ninja tricks?"

He nodded. "Of course, I graduated from school with top marks!"

"Can you show me some?" I knew I picked the right guy to cure me of boredom!

This time he shook his head and faced forward. "Ah, I'm afraid not. They are forbidden knowledge to outsiders." Ah, damn. Spoke too soon.

"Oh..." I said, disappointed.

He seemed to pick up on my mood and quickly changed the subject. "So, how about you? Where do you come from, young one?"

"Ah, my brother and I come from Whale Island." I guess. Don't actually know where we were born...damn Ging! "He's further towards the back of the group with our friends, I just came up 'cuz I was bored." I said, giving him a silly grin that I've copied from Gon.

It was my most successful camouflage. It says that I'm nothing more than a happy, naive little girl. Nothing like I actually was. Although, I _am _fairly happy with my life. Sure I get bored easily and crave adventure and excitement just like my brother, I just lose interest easier.

Ever since learning I was immortal, I started acting way too careless in the face of danger, or worse, acting nonchalant instead of afraid or cautious when confronted by people who were stronger than me or just bad in general.

I learned that the hard way when some pirates passed through Whale Island one time. Without getting into too much detail, one guy talked down to me, I mouthed back, he held a knife up to my throat, and I looked him dead in the eye and told him to do something I'd overheard one of his crew mates say earlier.

I felt fear for my life for the first time since waking up in bloody and torn clothes at the bottom of that hill a year prior, not because my mortality had changed, but because of the look on his face when I came back to life.

His face was of pure shock and fear. I'd never seen anyone look afraid of me before, and it caught me off guard. Deep down, I'd realized how people would probably see me if they _knew_, but then he starting spouting off that I was a monster and so was everyone in my family.

I didn't truly know the limitations of my immortality, like if I was like certain species of bugs that only truly died once the head was destroyed, or if I was completely consumed by fire. But I _did_ know what would happen if he went after my brother, aunt, and grandmother, thinking they were like me.

I felt true fear, not just for what would happen to me if people discovered me, but for my family. For _Gon._

Out of pure panic, like when it all began, I summoned Sandy for the second time in my short life, with the unspoken desire to silence the only witness.

He did so quickly, and messily. And for the briefest moment, I swore the pirate saw him, judging by how high he was looking and how small his eyes got in terror.

The look was stuck on his face, even as his head rolled down the deserted alleyway.

Thankfully nobody suspected me, and it was after that incident that I had the horrible realization that I had changed. Not just physically, but mentally. I didn't think like a normal human being anymore, or _feel _like one either. I didn't see death the same way. When people on the island died, friends or just people we grew up around, I felt nothing.

Gon cried when one of grandma's friends had passed when it was her time, she was always such a nice lady that offered us snacks and sweets when ever she saw us. I was fond of her too, but _I felt nothing_ when I was told she died.

And that scared me. I knew that it wouldn't be the same if anything happened to Gon. Hell, when he fished up the king of the lake, I was having a mental breakdown watching him jump and twist around the tree just to reel it in.

But what if something happened to the rest of my family? I just didn't know.

Not only that, but in my mind, my death was just an inconvenience. A necessity when I'm seriously hurt. I get too careless playing in the mountain side and break my arm? A sharp rock to the jugular will make me good as new. I come down with the flu and will probably miss the yearly island festival that Gon and I have been waiting for? A couple minutes submerged underwater in the bath will have me ready in no time.

It was a habit I was desperately trying to break. I had stopped resorting to such means as _often _as I used to when I was in my single digits, I haven't taken my own life just to take the easy road to full health since I was ten. I'd resolved myself not to do so during the Hunter exams unless _absolutely necessary. _If Gon's life was in danger, or my chances of failing the exam was due to injuries, or if my secret was exposed, I was going to be like everybody else.

If I get a boo boo, I'll deal with it.

Instead, for the past two years I've been training my own body as much as possible without affecting my development, along with Sandy.

I came back to the present when I noticed that Hanzo was talking about his home country and gesturing excitedly next to me, unaware that I had zoned out for pretty much all of it.

I let out a more discreet sigh than before. Damn, bored again…

**XXX**

Another couple hours have passed and I'd long since left the ninja to find others who would be willing to chat. There weren't many takers, and most just plain ignored me or told me to piss off.

After the wrestler guy said this, I heavily considered bringing out Sandy just to trip him up and leave him in my dust wondering what happened. In the end I deemed it not worth it, Sandy was a secret weapon, and just because he can't be seen, doesn't mean he can't be heard or felt. He still said random things I've said in the past every now and then, and if someone bumped into him they'd know there was something fishy going on.

I sighed and eyed a certain person not too far ahead of me. Hisoka had been on my radar for a good half hour now, but I'd promised Gon that I wouldn't approach the man just for the hell of it. I'd been deliberating the pros and cons since I spotted him, but in the end decided not too, especially when the pins and needles guy sidled up to run next to the smiling magician.

Nope, nope, nope.

Not a fan of needles, immortal or not, I still fought tooth and nail when I had to get vaccinations shots. But I didn't have to get them anymore! Ha, take _that, _auntie!

Then I got hit with an epiphany.

I grinned and full on sprinted, taking the steps three at a time and leaping over collapsed participants to reach the front of the pack until I was running with our strange proctor.

Satotz gave me a questioning look, to which I just gave a friendly wave. "Hello."

He nodded, still effortlessly bounded up the stairs at an even pace. "Hello." He greeted, saying nothing more.

"So how far have we been running?" I asked curiously, noticing that he didn't seem to be affected at all, like he ran for hours everyday for fun.

He glanced at me again and I saw that he had blue eyes. "About 80 kilometers." Huh.

"Okay." I said simply, Gon smile still in place. "So, what do you do as a hunter?" I asked, genuinely curious about a hunter's lifestyle. It was something I still wanted to figure out for myself once Gon and I passed. He was going to go off to search for Ging, but since I could care less about finding the man, I'd have to find my own way to make a living.

He hummed and was silent for a second, and I was worried he wouldn't answer. Then, he said, "I'm a Ruins hunter, normally. I'm on vacation right now and offered to help with the exams this year since I was in the area."

"A Ruins hunter..." I repeated, blinking up at him. "Do you just go and find old tombs and stuff?"

His curly mustache twitched. "Sort of, yes."

"Huh." I said, and then asked, "Do you have fun?"

"Hmm?" He looked down at me. "Why would I choose that profession if I didn't like it?" He asked, voice lighter, like I'd just asked him why he chose to wear a suit.

I held out my hands like a certain someone did earlier, in an exaggerated shrug. "Well, people do stuff they don't like all the time because it's good money or it's what they're good at, but that doesn't mean they like it."

At that Satotz simply blinked at my unexpected logic. I gave let my silly smile turn into a more genuine one and asked again, "So, do you like being a Ruins hunter, Mr. Satotz?"

He was silent, simply studying me. I waited patiently, hands back to gripping the straps of my backpack.

Finally, he said lowly, "Yes, I enjoy my profession. I was always been inspired by a certain man to become a Ruins hunter, so I knew what I wanted to do since the beginning."

He closed his eyes and his mustache twitched, and I wondered if he was smiling. "What about you, #406? What is it you with to do if become a hunter?"

"My name's Guren," I corrected. "Honestly, I don't really know. I don't know what all the options are for hunters, I only know about Beast hunters, Blacklist hunters, Treasure hunters and now Ruins hunters."

"I see. Is there anything in particular that you feel you would like to do?" He asked politely.

I shrugged again, less obnoxiously than before. "I don't know. I mostly decided to be a hunter to help my brother with what _he _wants to do as a hunter when I can...I _do _want to visit places, since I've lived on Whale Island most of my life...I guess I'll figure out what I want to do once I pass!" I finished with a silly grin again.

Satotz nodded. "Fair enough, Miss."

We talked about what he finds when he raids ruins for a little bit. I was finally starting to feel my legs start to feel the burn of running up countless steps when something bright caught my eye. I faced forward and whooped for joy at the sight of daylight.

"It's been nice talking to you Mr. Satotz, but I am _so _ready for some fresh air, so...see ya in a bit!" I gave him a wave and sprinted full speed towards the exit, feeling my hair fly off my forehead from the sudden wind.

I burst out of the tunnel and took a deep breath of fresh air, muscles happy to be stationary for now. I smoothed my wild hair back down so my fringe wasn't sticking straight up and turned when I heard Satotz reach the exit as well.

"You have some impressive speed for your age." He complimented, nodding his head. I was about to reply when I was cut off my two youthful voices shouting victory as they simultaneously bounded past our surprised proctor.

I smiled when I saw who it was. "Bout time, slowpoke." I teased, and Gon turned towards me with shock. I then noticed the other boy he was racing was staring at me with surprise as well.

"Wha-what?! Aw, no fair, sis!" Gon whined with a smile. "No we have to treat you to dinner!"

Huh?

"Huh? No way! She wasn't part of our deal!" The other boy complained, pointing at me. "It was just us, and I totally won!"

"Nuh uh! I came out before you did!"

"Actually," I cut in, gaining the attention of both boys. "You guys tied coming out of the tunnel, right Mr. Satotz?"

The man nodded confirming my judgement.

"Oh..."

"Man..."

Then being the wonderful ball of sunshine and positivity that he is, my brother declared, "Well, then I'll have to just treat you, Killua! And you can treat me!"

"Hah?"

I giggled and decided that I liked the kid who had befriended my brother. As others started to slowly join us outside, I walked up to the boys and offered my hand to the silver haired kid. "Hi, I'm Guren, Gon's sister. What's your name?"

He eyed my hand for a second before smirking and grasping it in a shake.

"Killua. Nice to meet ya." He then studied my face for a second, eyebrows raising. "Wow, you really _do _look like an exact copy of Gon! If you styled your hair up like his, it'd be like a looking in a mirror!"

I nodded and ran a hand through my hair. "Heh, yeah, we get that a lot..."

"Your eyes are pretty cool, too." He said sticking his hands in his pockets, looking cool as a cucumber.

I blinked at that. "Really? Most people are uncomfortable or weirded out by the color."

He shrugged. "Well I'm not exactly normal." Huh. Fair enough.

Killua, Gon and I went to the side of the exit to sit down and chat, Gon looking happy that his sister and new friend were getting along so well, and I starting asking Killua about his skateboard and what tricks he could do.

Eventually Leorio and Kurapika came out of the tunnel, the latter turning towards us when Gon called out for him.

"Hey. Is this the finish line?" Kurapika said, breathing a little heavy.

Gon shook his head. "I heard it's not. Don't know where the real end is, though."

"Oh..." He sighed, and stared around. "Well, at least the fog is starting to clear..."

Gon and I both jumped up at that. "Really?!"

Sure enough, it was starting to clear to reveal miles of dense forest surrounding us, with no end in sight.

"This is Numere Wetlands, also known as the Swindler's Swamp." Satotz said, addressing the whole group from where he was at the front of the pack once again. "This is the path you have to take to get to the second phase. There are many rare creatures here that you can't find anywhere else."

I tilted my face up and sniffed the air, smelling a bunch of different scents in the air. Many were of animals I've never smelled before, but mostly all I could smell was the cold, wet air. The fog cleared up, but it wasn't gone. That was going to make it tough to get through the swamp, especially if the ground was going to be damp and muddy.

And Sandy doesn't do too well with water, so I don't even know how he'll manage in fog…

"Many of these animals will do anything and everything to trick you and have you as their meal. So, please do not stray far from me. If you get fooled, you will die." Our proctor warned, causing a lot of my fellow contestants to shift nervously.

I heard the gate closing behind us and nibbled at my lip as I tried to come up with a plan. I haven't died and come back after being eaten by something before, and I sure as heck didn't want to experience it. So do I stay with Satotz for the whole trip, or do I stay with Gon to keep an eye on him?

I took a deep breath and decided it would be best to stay with my brother. If anything happened to him, fog or not, I'm confident Sandy and I could protect him. If his new friend decided to run with us the whole way, then I'll just have to protect him as best as I can too.

Suddenly a shout broke me out of my thoughts, and I turned to see a disheveled man glaring at Satotz. He proclaimed that _he _was the real examiner. He pulled a dead monkey like creature up whose face was a contorted version of Satotz.

I rolled my eyes at the whispers coming from all around, already believing the _real _imposter. I did a double take when I saw Hanzo joining in with the fools, along with Leorio. I thought he was a ninja?!

I gave Leorio an annoyed look, which he missed because he was too busy glaring suspiciously at Satotz. Someone commented on Satotz' run, saying that was more than enough to believe he wasn't human. I mean, really? That's just rude.

My sensitive ears caught the sound of something cutting through the air at high speed and suddenly cards struck the liar in his torso and right into his forehead, killing him instantly.

There were gasps of shock throughout the crowd, especially from Leorio next to me. Everyone seemed to be taken off guard by the sudden and swift death, but all I could focus on was how _cool _that was! Well, not the death, but the razor cards! Talk about a hidden weapon, nobody expects a deck of cards to be secret instruments of death!

I turned towards the sound of shuffling cards and already suspected who the perpetrator was. Wait, shuffling? Those cards are metal, aren't they...?

Low and behold, Hisoka was calmly and effortlessly shuffling a deck of cards, chuckling to himself. "I see," he drawled. "it's obvious. _You're _the real one~"

I turned to where he was looking at saw Satotz with his hands full of cards, expertly between his fingers so he wouldn't be cut. Huh.

Satotz didn't respond verbally, only tossed the cards away with a flick of his wrists. My brows furrowed when they _fluttered _to the ground.

"So he _is _the real deal?!" Hanzo exclaimed.

_Obviously. _Seriously, what are the standards of becoming a ninja?

"A so called 'proctor' is a hunter hired by the Selection Committee to serve as a volunteer. Anyone with the title of hunter should be able to easily deflect that kind of attack~" The magician continued, pocketing his cards. Seriously though, what were those cards? Were they made of some kind of flexible metal?

"I'll take that as a compliment. However, if you attempt to harm me again, no matter the reason, it will be considered a violation against the proctor. I'll have no choice but to disqualify you. Do yo understand?"

I glanced back at the corpse with the cards still sticking in his body like knives, and noticed the ape man had run away. As Satotz began to lead the group through the swamp, I quickly went to the body inspected the cards carefully.

I ran a finger across the edge of one and was surprised to find it to be a blunt, normal ace of spades. I plucked one out of the man's torso and bent it experimentally. Yup, definitely just a normal card...how did he _do _that?

"Hey Sis, let's go!" Gon called from behind me.

I quickly slipped the card into my back pocket and hurried after my brother, mind swirling with questions.

**XXX**

I'm starting to think that the fog clearing up earlier was a well thought out prank by the swamp swindlers.

The fog has been getting thicker with every minute that passes, making it even harder to see who was in front of us. The boys and I were staying close together now, with Gon in the middle. Leorio and Kurapika were a behind us towards the back of the pack, still tired from the earlier run, and _everyone _was keeping tabs on Hisoka.

I sighed, starting to feel bored again. Killua glanced at me. "What's up, Guren?"

"I'm bored again."

"Ah? So you think this exam is easy too, huh?" The silver haired boy said, adjusting his skateboard more securely under his arm. Suddenly his cat like eyes narrowed, and he suddenly faced straight ahead. "Gon, Guren. Let's go to the front of the group."

My brother blinked at him in confusion. "Okay. We don't want to lose track of the proctor in all this."

I studied Killua's suddenly tense frame and discretely glanced behind us to see a group of men glaring purposely at Hisoka. The magician's lips were curled up in that same smile he's worn for this whole exam.

Oh.

I cleared my suddenly dry throat and realized what Killua meant.

"More importantly, let's keep our distance from that Hisoka guy." He said, confirming my thoughts. "He just attracts trouble."

I frowned and sneaked a glance behind me again, taking in the amount of people eyeing Hisoka. I wasn't sure if I felt bad for Hisoka for being ganged up on, or for the guys who were ganging up on him.

Nah, let's be real, that guy dissolved _another_ guys arms just for bumping into him, and killed someone else with just _cards. _Those idiots were screwed.

"Leorio! Kurapika! Killua says we should move to the front!" Gon called behind him, and Killua whipped his head around to stare incredulously at him. I smacked a hand to my forehead.

"Stupid!" Leorio called back. "If we could go faster, we'd already be up there!"

"Don't worry about us, you guys go on ahead!" Kurapika chimed in, making Gon look to me in worry.

"You really think they'll be okay?" He asked me, and I shrugged.

"They made it this far, big bro. Kurapika's smart, so even if they run into trouble, I'd trust him to get them out." I said, trying to ease my brother's worry. I don't think I was completely successful, though.

"What about Sandy?" He whispered, glancing at Killua's back as he ran a bit ahead of us. "Can you have him look out for them?"

I sighed shook my head. "I'd like to, but with how dense this fog has gotten, I don't know how much use he'd be. Plus it would be hard for him to be sneaky in these wetlands, he'd be easily heard..."

Gon nodded with an accepting look on his face, eyes troubled.

I let out an explosive sigh, already starting to regret what I was about to say. I really hated it when Gon looked sad, though. "I'll stay behind and keep an eye on them, okay?"

He looked at me in surprise. "What? No, you don't have to do that, Guren-"

"I know, but I will. They're our new friends, right?" I smiled, wrapped an arm around Gon's shoulders in a hug. "Just stick close to Killua, and we'll meet up at the next phase, ok?"

Gon still looked worried, but I gave him a light push towards the other boy. "See you later, Killua! Take care of my brother!"

They gave me one last look over their shoulders before hurrying ahead, and I stayed at the same pace, trying to locate where Leorio and Kurapika were. That's when things started getting weird.

Out of nowhere these huge turtles with strawberries bigger than _me _hanging from their shells were there, successfully scattering the group in a panic. I veered off a bit with a couple others, and frantically hoped Leorio and Kurapika weren't still back there.

I didn't recognize anyone around me, and thought about digging through my bag for my pocket knife.

I didn't really have anything to fight with besides Sandy, my knife, and my small pistol that I had stolen from the pirate I killed all those years ago. I've never really used it, I only kept it around for a quick reset, and honestly, if Gon knew I had a gun on me, he'd freak out.

My choice was decided for me when my little group was suddenly surrounded by bright lights. The people around me decided to stop and stare at the pretty lights like morons, but I ran even faster to get away from them, and did a mighty leap so that I soared over them.

A quick glance told me that they were butterflies, beautifully colored ones, which meant they were all the more dangerous.

They started releasing a pollen, and immediately held my breath to avoid the poison. I landed with a wet thud, and heard similar sounds behind me. I kept forward, not looking back.

I don't know how long I ran, using my nose to lead me towards humans, avoiding any smells that I didn't know. I almost got my leg bitten off by a huge brown lizard, but luckily I was quicker. I paused in my run for a second and sniffed, smiling when I recognized the aroma.

Ah, I'd recognize that cologne anywhere. A couple days around it has it ingrained into my brain by now.

I quickly ran towards where I smelled Leorio.

A few minutes passed and his smell was practically burning my nose, but then I smelled something else mixing in with his.

The scent of something sweet mingled with the odor I was tracking, making me tense. Who was with Leorio? It wasn't Kurapika, or anyone else I knew.

I strained my eyes and tried to see who head jogging ahead of me, and felt my heart skip a beat at when I saw wavy red hair.

Oh _shit._

Gon's face flashed through my mind, and I knew he would be crushed if his new friend suddenly died, especially after I said I would protect them...

I then noticed that Hisoka's left shoulder was a little bulkier than normal, and I almost felt lightheaded with relief when I noticed it was _Leorio _over his shoulder. Oh good, I think he's still alive! I mean, who would want to carry around a dead body?

I threw caution to the wind and _dashed _towards them so that I was in front of the sweet smelling magician, causing him to make an abrupt stop.

_"Oh~?"_

His vulpine smirk dropped at my sudden appearance, before curling back up into a delighted smile.

I gave him my best Gon smile and pointed towards Leorio, keeping a watchful eye for any cards. "Hi there! I believe you have something I've been looking for!" I said in a cheery voice, trying to keep my voice carefree.

He tilted his head a bit and studied my face for a moment, before his smirk widened. "Ah...you must be the sister he was asking about~"

I tilted my head as well. "Huh?"

Hisoka chuckled, a giddy look in his eyes, making me even more confused. "The boy with the fishing pole. He was looking for you~" He elaborated.

I froze.

Hisoka came into contact with Gon, but only Leorio was here...where was everyone else...? Where..._where was Gon?_

My mask slid off my face and I _glared, _the only thing I could think was that if he hurt my brother, I would _end him._

The magician's eyebrows were raised and his lips parted in silent surprise at my sudden shift in mood. Or maybe he could feel my intent in the air. I gave him another grin, this one all me. It probably resembled an animal baring its teeth in warning. "Where's my brother...?" I asked in a deceptively soft voice, not taking my eyes off his.

His eyes stayed locked on my face, taking in my expression before his smirk stretched even wider, and responded in an equally soft tone. "_Oh_...I _really _like that look...~"

Even through the haze of rage, I could tell he was toying with me, intentionally deflecting. I took a deep breath, trying to think clearly, and took a step towards him. He didn't move, just continued to stare at me with barely concealed anticipation.

"I'm not gonna lie," I said, as if I was discussing the weather. "I rather like you. Have since I saw you do that magic trick with the flower petals."

Hisoka hummed at that, eyes tracking me as I stepped a bit closer again. If he reached out, he could probably touch me, but the rational part of my brain didn't register the danger.

"But," I said, voice a little quieter. "I don't care _how _interesting you are...if you did something to Gon..._I will kill you."_

It was silent for a moment. I stared up at the tall magician, and mentally prepared to dodge or dash away at the attack I _knew _was coming. I threatened him for that very reason. If he was focusing on killing me, he wouldn't expect Sandy.

He did nothing, said nothing, only stood there with a hand holding onto Leorio's legs and the other hanging loose at his side, slightly twitching. I focused on bringing out Sandy, black sand slowly getting thicker behind me.

Then suddenly my world shifted in the span of a second.

I was suddenly the one looking down at Hisoka, his hand wrapped around my _entire _neck. My airway was immediately cut off, and I heard the wet thud of a body hitting the ground. I grit my teeth and continued to look defiantly at the grinning magician, and wondered what was taking Sandy so long.

I grinned back, and let out a choked laugh. I wrapped my hands around his wrist, digging in my nails, hoping to draw blood.

Hisoka _moaned_, and I watched with some confusion when instead of the murderous anger or annoyance I was expecting at my defiance, he got a light blush across his pale cheeks, eyes glazing a bit as he looked at my expression.

"_Oh..._you're so _cute, _little Guren…~" His voice was even weird, not at all what I was expecting. Or planning for.

The black sand paused from coming out of my skin, losing concentration at the turn of events. Is he making fun of me?!

I hissed like an angry cat, and hooked my legs around his arm, squeezing with all my strength, trying to break it before he broke my neck.

"You're such a _fighter~" _He cooed, watching me try to strangle his arm to death. Jesus, his muscles felt like _rock. _I can't do anything like this.

I let my legs fall from his arm to dangle uselessly, and once again tried to summon Sandy. I could hit myself for being stupid enough to not finish doing it earlier, because now I could barely concentrate. Black dots were appearing in my vision from the lack of air, and I couldn't tell if Sandy was even being formed anymore. The fog was doing what I had feared earlier, the water in the air was messing with our connection.

When water was involved, controlling or communicating with Sandy was like trying to make a long distance call with bad reception, not to mention he was_ a lot_ slower than normal.

Suddenly it was like everything was crystal clear, and I knew from experience that I had gone on without air for a dangerous amount of time. I was going to suffocate to death soon, and if I passed out before I could summon Sandy, I'd be left out here defenseless while I reset for whatever swamp creature to find. I really didn't want to wake up being eaten.

But damn it, I can't stay awake any longer…

My eyes started to close without my permission, but I stared Hisoka down, taking in every detail in that moment. Exotic wavy red hair with strands starting to fall from it's styled position at his temples and nape due to the constant moisture in the air. Naturally pouty lips stretched in an excited smirk. His painted cheeks that were still dusted with a tinge of pink. His arched, thin brows, his nose that any male model would die for.

And finally, his unsettling eyes. Not brown that lightened to a warm amber like my brothers, but yellow like that of a snake. They looked more gold now, actually. Whatever he was feeling to make his cheeks blush was making his eyes darken as he gazed up at me.

So many different emotions danced in his eyes, that I couldn't even identify them all.

Finally, I let the fight drain out of me and closed my eyes, succumbing to darkness with the bitter taste of defeat on my tongue.

**XXX**

When I came back to consciousness, it was slowly. That was my first clue that I hadn't died.

My second clue was how tired my body felt. I could still feel the burning in my legs from the constant running, and how sore my throat felt as well. If I had died, I'd be fully rejuvenated right now.

I opened my mouth to take a deep breath of crisp cool air, but instead inhaled a masculine scent bathed in sweetness.

Then it dawned on me that I wasn't laying on the cold muddy ground, or in the belly of a swamp beast. In fact, it felt like I was in motion.

With effort, I opened my eyes and saw a blurry mass of white and red. I blinked a bit to try to clear them, and brought up a heavy arm so I could rub at them.

"Well, well~. Good morning, sleeping beauty~" A smooth voice sang from close by. My eyes moved towards the source and saw the very person who _put _me to sleep. Seeing Hisoka helped clear my head a bit, and I forced my head up to take stock of my situation.

I was moving because Hisoka was carrying me like a toddler, one arm holding up my body like it weighed nothing. Leorio was back on his other shoulder, still out cold. The magician was moving at a light jog, towards what I hoped was the next trail site.

I couldn't help but stare at his smug face in confusion. "What you doin'?" I mumbled.

_"Hmm?"_ Whatever do you mean, little Guren~?" He said in a playful voice, obviously knowing what I meant.

I rolled my eyes, and idly wondered how he knew my name. "Why didn't you kill me?" I asked in a biting tone. Or I tried to. To me it sounded more tired than anything.

His amused glance said the same thing. "I'm not going to kill someone with _so _much potential~!" His face got that weird look again as he said this. "You, your brother, and your two friends all passed~" Well, that explains how he knew my name. Gon probably mentioned it.

"Passed? Passed what?" I muttered, trying to wriggle out of the man's hold. In response, he shifted his grip so I was tucked more securely into his side. I huffed and pinched the arm I was sitting on in retaliation.

"I was playing a little game earlier when your friends came upon me, and like you, they managed to impress me. Your brother and the blonde are just fine~"

I gave up trying to get free. Hearing that my brother was okay calmed my lingering nerves instantly. "Oh...okay." I said simply, my earlier ill intent towards the man forgotten. "You know, I can walk just fine now."

"Oh? That's good to know~"

I waited for him to put me down, but he just continued to smile. After about thirty seconds, I reluctantly let it go. "We're heading towards the next phase, right?"

Hisoka hummed in confirmation.

I sighed and slumped into his shoulder, resigning myself to be carried all the way there. We traveled in silence for bit. I honestly felt like I could fall right back to sleep like this. Not wanting to be unconscious in the presence of such a dangerous man again, decided to start up a conversation.

"Hey, so I was wondering…"

His eyes darted to me. "Mmhmm…?"

"Well, it's been bugging me...but how did you make those cards so sharp before?" It's something that'd been eating at me since taking the ace from that ape's corpse.

"_Ah~_, a magician never reveals his secrets, little Guren~" He chided, giving the skin of my exposed thigh a not so light pinch. I winced; that was probably revenge for earlier.

"Oh come on," I whined. "I promise I won't tell anyone, not even my brother!"

Hisoka _tsked_. "That doesn't sound very convincing…~"

I pouted at that and gave him a flat stare. "I'll have you know, that I am _very _good at keeping secrets."

His lips curled up. "Oh, _I have no doubt about that~"_

I narrowed my eyes. "_Okay..._so you'll tell me?"

His smirk suddenly morphed into a happy smile that looked as fake as my Gon smile. "Maybe if you continue to impress me~"

He then turned his head forward again, topaz orbs staring straight ahead.

I let out a dismayed groan and flopped down again, face buried into his white shirt. I cursed the fact that it was foggy again; I could probably trick him if Sandy was here!

Wait..._trick._

My lips curled up into a devious smirk, a plan forming. I quickly schooled it into an innocent smile when I pulled away from his shoulder. I leaned back as far as I was able to without making Hisoka think I was trying to escape, but mostly so he couldn't see my back.

"How about this_," _I waited until his eyes were trained on my own before continuing. "I'll perform a magic trick for you. If you can't figure out how I did it, you tell me about _your _trick. Deal?"

The entire time I was talking, I put my hands on my hips for show, hiding the face that I was carefully pulling his ace of spades out of my back pocket.

"That's awfully bold of you,_ little girl~"_ Hisoka purred, quirking an eyebrow at my cheeky confidence. "Attempting to beat a magician at his own game~?"

I shrugged, making sure to keep my right arm low as I casually wrapped it around him again, and made sure his eyes were on my other hand. I slowly reached towards his chest, and as predicted, his gaze snapped to the appendage that was getting closer to his neck. "Neh, but that's what makes it fun! It's a challenge." I calmly gave his chest a pat, like he was the family dog.

His cunning gaze drifted back to me, eyes shining with interest. "Well then, what do I get if I _do _figure you out~?"

I made me pause. "Huh? Oh, um…" I didn't really think about that…

His eyes curved a bit, looking at me like _I _was the family dog that just got caught doing something it shouldn't. "Ah, you're _quite _confident in your little magic trick, aren't you~?"

Quickly realizing my mistake, I tried to get back into control. "Well, what _do _you want if you win?" I said, a tad exasperated. I just wanted to make him show me his sharp card trick!

Hisoka hummed deep in his throat and let his eyes dance around the foggy forest in thought. I waited impatiently for him to just name his reward already so I could get on with it. I idly let the leg that wasn't next to Leorio swing gently with Hisoka's strides.

"If I win, I want to fight you~"

I blinked in surprise at his request. Or by the sudden sharpness in those golden orbs; _his demand_. I couldn't stop myself from swallowing nervously. "...You want to fight me?" I asked, voice giving away my befuddlement. "I think we both know how boring that'll be for you." I said, referring to what put me in this situation to begin with.

"Now what happened to that ferocious girl that was so _determined _to kill me earlier~?" He wondered aloud, before his smile died a bit. "I didn't scare her away, did I?" He sounded genuinely worried.

I rolled my eyes and gave him a look that said I questioned his sanity. I'm sure it was a look he recognized. "_Fine. _I'll fight you if you figure my trick out! I'll even make sure to go at you with all my power, happy?"

My answer was a powerful and terrifying burst of _something_ that had my mind screaming at me to run_run_**run**.

I choked and instinctively tried to get away, with little success seeing as his arm was now locked around my torso like an iron band, nearly crushing me against his chest. The softer parts of my body hurt from where they were uncomfortably squished against his. I heard various creatures from around us take off in fear. I opened my eyes (when did I shut them?) to peer at Hisoka and lost my breath altogether at the sight.

His face had that weird look again, only ten times more intense. He had a full blown grin now, teeth flashing dangerously, and ivory skin twisting from the strain of such a sinister smile. The skin of his cheeks dimpled and narrowed his eyes further, and the painted shapes on his cheek was crinkled.

What was the worst was his eyes. It was like seeing the _real_ Hisoka for the first time; his true self shined through those eyes. This man was like a ravenous animal-no, _worse. _I knew animals, and they hunted others to survive. This man..._Hisoka _hunted and killed for the _thrill_. Not even that; as I looked closer at those cold, yellow eyes that were starting to roll up, he hunted and killed for pleasure, as if seeing blood he'd personally spilt was the only way to find enjoyment in life.

My heart sank into my stomach. He was a true beast that can't be caged. _Won't_ be caged. He'll hunt and devour as long as he's able, and still be hungry, never truly satisfied.

I thought back to the butterflies earlier, and realized they were the same. Hisoka was as dangerous as he was beautiful. His beauty didn't fully mask his malice though, which was why only a fool would challenge him without a care.

A fool like me.

Hisoka was worse person I could've encountered in these exams. Forget fighting, just being with him like this was going to get me killed! He was going to find out just how _un-effective _killing me will be.

My throat constricted in pure fear at the possibility. _Anyone _finding out about my immortality was my worst fear, but just the thought of _Hisoka _finding out…I didn't know how he would react, honestly. It scared the hell out of me.

With how close I was pressed to him, I could feel how his body quivered with excitement at the thought of fighting me to the death, and we both knew who'd win. I felt lightheaded.

I've heard of bloodlust before, but had never seen or felt it before. _Bloodlust_ must be what was twisting Hisoka's face into that weird expression I keep seeing. I'll never confuse simple killing intent with _this _primal lust for death ever again.

My lungs were screaming and I vaguely realized I was lightheaded because I haven't breathed in a while. I immediately took in a gasping breath of air, gripping the loose material over Hisoka's chest. I noticed that his heart was beating rather hard under my small fist.

As if breaking a spell, the crushing air was gone. I took in greedy breaths of the suddenly clear air.

Hisoka let out a low chuckle at my suffering. "Ah, now I'm really getting excited~. Go ahead and do your trick now, Guren~"

I didn't respond, still trying to catch my breath. His hold on me loosened and he looked at me questioningly. I glared at his audacity.

"Mm? You alright, little kitten~?" He said, voice dripping with honey.

"Yeah, I'm _fine_! And don't call me that!" I snapped out, my fear was washed away once again by prickly irritation at the evil magician. God, the _nerve _of this man!

I noticed then that the fog was starting to clear up again, and decided that I really _did _need to do my trick while I still had low visibility on my side.

Luckily I didn't drop his card while I was freaking out. I cleared my throat and said in my best Hisoka impression, "Now, without even touching the deck, I'm going to swipe one of your cards~!"

Hisoka's lips curled up at my grandiose tone. "_Oh~?_ Going to make one of my cards magically appear, are you~?" It sounded like he wanted to tack on a _this should be good _at the end of that sentence, but said it with his eyes instead.

I leaned back and made exaggerated hand motions with my free hand, while my hidden one rose up to his wavy hair and with the best of my ability, _flicked _the card through my fingers and made a show of pulling it out of the red locks.

I smirked and waved his ace of spades in front of his face. "Sir, is this your card~?"

Hisoka made a noise of consideration, eyes flicking from what was obviously his card and my smug face. "It certainly seems to be~"

I grinned victoriously and swept my arms out like I saw him do the first time I saw him. "Tada~"

"Not bad~" The magician complimented, tone conveying his amusement. "Do I get to reveal your 'magic' now~?"

"Sure, but you only get one guess!"

"Mm, I better make it a good one then~" Before Hisoka even finished his sentence, he had plucked the card out of my hand and waved it in _my _face. "You didn't get this from me at all...you picked it up from the body of that swamp ape earlier~"

I felt my veins turn to ice. "W-what? No I didn't!" _How did he guess that quickly?!_

He quirked a brow at me. "_Oh?_ So little Guren is a liar _and _a thief~" He slowed to walk then, and I noticed that the fog had cleared completely. A crowd of people were a bit ahead of us. "You need a bit more practice, kitten~ I recognized the card as one I threw earlier."

I bristled in humiliation at being figured out so easily. "Are you telling me that you remember _every card _you throw at people?!"

The magician just smirked at me. "The dried blood on it was also a dead giveaway~"

I was brought up short at that, and glanced at the ace. Sure enough, there was dried blood all over the corner that helped kill the ape earlier, staining the white face red. I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from spitting curses at the man's smug, stupid face. Damn it, I was an _idiot_!

Finally I muttered a "You win…", and stared at his numbered badge like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

_"Hmm?_ Sorry, what was that, little Guren~?" He drawled, eyes laughing.

I flashed him a glare. "You _win, _alright? I lost." I said, looking away with a sulky expression. Honestly though, I didn't feel too put out. I felt more embarrassed that I made myself look like an idiot in front of Hisoka than anything.

Which confused me, because if he thought I was an idiot he would probably lose interest in fighting me, which was good. But the thought of him losing interest in me made an unpleasant feeling clench at my chest, and I didn't know _why._

"That's right~, _now you owe me a fight~_" The jester said in a low voice, his smile taking a more predatory edge.

I frowned, remembering the whole reason I was wary of losing our bet in the first place. "I take it you're not going to wait until after the exams?" I asked, looking for a familiar face in the crowd, specifically Gon, but only saw Satotz. He must have sensed my gaze, because he immediately looked over in our direction.

The proctor's eyes widened visibly when he saw who was carrying me and Leorio. I quickly averted my gaze. My worry from earlier was starting to creep back when I _still _didn't find Gon or our new friends.

"Of course not~" Hisoka said absently as he was weaving through some of the contestants on the outside of the crowd, heading towards a shady area.

It took me a second to remember that I'd asked him a question. "Ne, Hisoka…you _really _didn't do anything to my brother?" I asked, wanting confirmation again.

The man let out a huff and _finally _set me down on my own two feet. _"My~_, what a lucky little boy to have such a loving sister to look out for him~" He said, and set Leorio down so that he was propped up against a tree.

Then I got a good look at his face.

"_Shit." _I hissed, crouching down so I could inspect Leorio's bruised and swollen face better. "What did you hit him with, a hammer?"

The man let out another huff and I suddenly felt something heavy land on my head. I let out another hiss when my thick hair was suddenly held in a fist and my head was forcefully turned to face Hisoka. He looked down at me with his usual playful expression. "I'll let you know when I'm ready for our fight, kitten~"

Then he abruptly let go and walked away.

I ran a hand through my short messy locks and scowled after him. Damn it, he didn't have to pull so hard!

I settled down on the left of Leorio, letting the tree block me from Hisoka's sight. I just needed my brother. Then all my confusing feelings can go back to the way they're supposed to be.

I took off my tag and used it to make little dirt snowman while I waited anxiously for Gon. I had made a whole family of dirtmen by the time I finally heard, "Sis!"

My head shot up and I saw Gon rushing towards me, looking sick with relief. I jumped up and met him halfway, nearly tripping on Leorio's legs in my haste. I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly, breathing in his familiar scent, and that worry in the back of my mind was gone. He was okay! He didn't even look hurt!

His arms were just as tight around my middle, nearly lifting me up with the strength of his hug. He let out a joyful laugh then and spun me around, drawing a giggle out of me as well. We ignored the annoyed "Heys!" when my feet smacked into other contestants.

He set me back down and beamed at me. "I'm so glad you're alright, Guren! Kurapika and I were worried!"

I then noticed the older boy was next to us, and gave him my best Gon smile. He returned it with a small smile of his own. "I'm glad you're alright, Guren. When Gon said you were supposed to be with us, we were _all _worried."

"I take it you guys ran into some trouble by the look of the old man's face." I said, glancing behind me. They followed my gaze and winced.

"Ah, sort of…" Gon trailed off, obviously uncertain of whether or not to reveal that they had an alteration with Hisoka.

I sighed and grabbed his hand, pulling him back the way I came. "I figured you did, big bro. Now come on, let's see if we can rouse Leorio and we can all share stories."

Kurapika gave me an amused smile when he saw my drawings while Gon retold his adventures through the swamp. Killua eventually wandered over to group up with us again and hear what happened as well. Poor Leorio woke up feeling miserable, and I for the first time I wished others healed as fast as Gon and I could.

I was relieved to know that Hisoka didn't do too much to them. He must of been feeling satisfied with the amount of contestants he had already killed prior. It was only when I'd agreed to fight him did his thirst for blood get reawakened.

When I told my story, I of course left a lot out. Gon was the only one who knew about Sandy, so he knew why I couldn't defend myself as well as I normally would, and the others just looked plain pissed that Hisoka tried to strangle a little girl. Leorio especially was red with anger.

I just told them I was unconscious for the whole trip here, only feeling a little guilty at the lie. It just wasn't worth what Gon's reaction would be to his precious little sister playing with fire.

Killua gave me dismissing look before turning back to my brother, asking him if his nose was really good enough to track Leorio. I couldn't help but pout a bit. Geez, did he not just hear me say that I tracked the older man the same way? Where's my respect?

I felt a couple locks of hair get gently tugged and saw Leorio giving me a grin. "Ha, now you know how I feel when you brats underestimate _me." _My pout melted away and I stuck my tongue out at him teasingly. I heard Kurapika try to smother a chuckle with a next to me.

"Well done, everyone!"

We all turned towards where Satotz was standing in front of the large gate. " The Visca Forest Reserve is the location for the second phase. I will take my leave, now. I wish you all the best of luck." With that, he trotted in his unusual gait back the way we came.

Gon and I made sure to wave him farewell, earning us some amused looks from our friends. By the time we put our hands down, the gate slid open, catching everyone's attention.

Behind the gates was a huge mansion like building with a courtyard with many strange looking stations.

"Those who have passed the first phase, please step inside!" Called a feminine voice.

When we walked in we were greeted by a young woman with blue hair and a _very _large man. Seriously, he looked almost as big as my house! I almost missed what the lady said while I gawked at the man."I'm the proctor for the second phase, Menchi."

"I'm Buhara, the other proctor." The man said, an easy going smile on his face. Suddenly there was a loud grumble that caused many people to look around for a wild animal.

"You must be hungry," Menchi said, glancing back at her fellow examiner.

"I'm so hungry I could faint!" Buhara groaned, rubbing his stomach.

My stomach gave me a bit of a twinge as well, and I shared a miserable glance with Gon. We were already hungry once we got to the secret hunter location, and after running for hours and dealing with our little dustup with Hisoka, our stomachs weren't happy.

The lady proctor stood up from the sofa and announced, "Okay. For the second phase test...you'll be cooking us lunch!"

I blinked. Cooking?

"Hold on! Did you say _cooking?"_ Came an irritated voice from the crowd. "We're here to try out for the hunter exam!"

"You heard correctly. Your challenge for the second phase is to make a dish that will satisfy us."

"Why a cooking contest?"

Menchi put her hands on her hips and proudly said, "Because Buhara and I are Gourmet hunters!"

My eyes lit up a bit at learning about a new type of hunter. So, there were even hunters that based their lifestyle around cooking...?

Many of the hunter contestants burst out laughing.

I frowned, hearing a lot say that it must of been a joke, the loudest being the one to speak up earlier. I glanced up at Menchi and cringed internally at how annoyed she looked. These idiots-!

"So, Ms. Gourmet hunter. What kind of dish do you want us to make?" The same man said in a condescending tone.

"The main ingredient will be pork." Buhara said, standing up to his full height.

Again a mutter rose up. "Pork?"

"Like a pig?"

I rolled my eyes, hearing that, and noticed Kurapika doing so as well. Seriously, what other kind of pork is there?

"Any type of pig you find in the Visca Reserve Forest will do." Buhara answered. "It doesn't matter what kind. You will use the tools and appliances here to prepare us a dish using the pig. If we are both happy with the dish, you will pass the test!"

"But it's not just about taste," Menchi added, still looking irritated. "Do not underestimate the complexities of cooking. You hear me?" She opened her eyes at the end and glared out at us.

I couldn't help but be nervous. I wasn't a chef by any means, and I only knew how to cook a couple things because of Aunt Mito. Bacon was the only pork related dish knew how to make, but I had only ever cooked already prepared bacon! I didn't know what part of the pig it came from…

I nibbled on my lip with worry, and shot a look at Gon. He was pulling at his bottom lip, looking thoughtful. Yeah, just like I figured. He didn't know how to cook pork, either. I knew that he could only really make camp food, so his idea of cooking would be to just roast the whole thing.

I was torn out of my thoughts by Gon grabbing my arm and pulling me after him. "C'mon, sis! It's time to start!" I stumbled after him and tried not to panic. I still didn't know what part of the pig was the bacon! I shook my head and sighed. Well, time to just do what I do best.

Wing it.

**XXX**

**Well, there's chapter one. Hope you liked it! **

**Ja ne**


	2. Chapter 2

**Here we go, quickly proofread so sorry for mistakes. I've gotten a surprising amount of dm's asking for murderclown x ajin smut and a lot positive feedback on this story so far, so thanks! Nothing terribly sexual between Hisoka and Guren yet, but I'll post a one-shot au of this chapter later that'll have what you want.**

**Thanks for the faves, follows and dms! Here's the second phase.**

**XXX**

Gon and I were in our element.

We followed our noses and tracked the unique scent of a boar through the dense woods, our three friends a couple of steps behind us. After hearing about how accurate we were with finding Leorio earlier, they had faith in our ability to track a measly hog. Leorio and Kurapika especially, since they already knew we hunted game for dinner all the time back home.

My brother was inspecting some wrecked foliage that looked like the work of wild boars if they were the size of bears. I sniffed and bent down to get a closer look at what was in front of me. It looked right but at the same time… "Uh, Gon? Check this out…"

"What's up?" He asked curiously, squatting down next to me.

I pointed to what I found. "That doesn't quite look right, does it?" By the look on his face, he understood why I was confused.

"Hey, what are you guys looking at-" Killua joined me on my other side and immediately cut himself off when he saw what had our attention. "Ugh! Why are you guys playing with shit?!"

"What?!" The other two exclaimed, now standing behind us to look over our heads.

I rolled my eyes. "Of course we're not _playing _with it, you moron! This is pig scat...well, it _should _be…" I trailed off, uncertain.

"What? There's no _way _a pig did that! It's huge!" Killua said, looking at me like he couldn't believe I'd survived in the mountains for so long. Well, he's half right.

"No, sis is right about it being pig scat. It's the size that's throwing us off." My wonderful brother inputted.

Killua turned blue eyes to him. "Yeah, that's my point, Gon!"

"He _means _that boar crap looks a certain way, and that is definitely boar crap. What has us concerned is that the boar that did it is obviously bigger than the average one." I stated, eyes moving back to the rutted area around us. Were we really hunting pigs the size of _bears?_

I bit my lip and kept a sharp eye after that. I could only have Sandy out for a half hour at a time at the longest, so the second I smelled any pigs nearby, I was bringing him out.

"I have to say, cooking sure sounds a lot easier than what we did for the first phase," Leorio commented as we followed the path of destruction.

"Hopefully…" Kurapika muttered, eyeing the ravaged ground. Thankfully, he took our worries seriously, unlike _some _people. I shot Killua another annoyed look, to which he just stuck out his tongue.

Gon suddenly hopped down the steep hillside and slid down, Killua quickly joining in with a grin. The older boys were only two seconds behind them, but I decided to tread slowly, not wanting to get grass stains on my clothes. I may have an extra shirt packed, but not shorts!

Halfway down the hill, the scent hit me full on, and I knew why Gon headed down. Without any further ado, the sand-like matter that was black as obsidian started to pour out of my body. It fell like a thick waterfall and a few seconds later took solid form in front of me.

I looked up at the blank face of my invisible friend. "Hey, Sandy! Wanna hunt some pigs with me?"

Sandy tilted his head, and I felt his bemused emotions flood through our bond. "**...Hunt...piggies…?" **My deeper, distorted voice said from within his bandaged body. Man, I wish he could have his own voice because mine just sounded _weird _like that.

I nodded, moving around him to trek down the hill again. "Yup, but you gotta be stealthy like ninjas, okay? I don't want anybody to know about you yet."

I felt some excitement from him and glanced back to see him holding a clawed digit up to his face as if he were shushing me. I grinned up at the adorable sight.

By the time we made it down, the boys were at a pile at the end of the hill. "Hey, what happen-"

All four quickly shushed me, pointing to something in the field. I followed their gaze and blinked dumbly at the sight.

God, they _were _huge! I then caught sight of a few of them chewing on bones with their sharp teeth. Oh no…

As one, the carnivorous boars turned towards us as one, eyes glaring hungrily. Then the one closest to use bellowed out an almighty shriek.

Oh..._no..._

"Shit!"

"Woah!"

"Yikes, run!"

"Crap!"

"_Oh my god, oh my god, _I don't want to die! What the hell _are _these pigs?!"

We bolted, the angry herd right behind us. Sandy and I took up the rear of the group, the pigs hot on our heels. More contestants were ahead of us with looks of befuddlement, which quickly bled away to horror when they saw the size of the pigs. They didn't even have time to run before they were thrown away by the force of their large snouts.

I whispered to Sandy to take us away from the others. He nodded, picked me up and sped away with his long strides. We were gone before the others even noticed, with two pigs not far behind.

I peered over Sandy's bulky shoulder at the pigs and tried to find weaknesses. To me, the most dangerous was the snout. _Especially when it can hit a human like a truck, _I thought. "Sandy, stop in front of that tree to over there," I commanded, pointing to a thick tree a couple of yards to our left.

"**...roger…!" **He quickly veered left, fast enough that the pigs couldn't follow as quickly. They bellowed angrily when they tripped over their stubby feet, crashing into each other.

"Okay, now just stay here until they get close," I said, shifting so that I was seated more comfortably in Sandy's hold. I couldn't help but be reminded of another set of arms that held me just over an hour ago. Well, at least Sandy isn't holding me hostage. _Although Hisoka definitely wins in the smell department, _I thought, smelling nothing but sulfur and death.

The pigs thundered towards us, and once they were almost upon us, I shouted, "Now!" Sandy leaped straight up, high enough to grab hold of a thick branch with his free hand.

We both watched as the pig slammed snout first into the tree, but the tree held strong. For a moment I thought that maybe it had knocked itself out when it didn't move, but then it just shook its head and looked around for us, relatively unharmed. The other pig just slowly circled the small clearing, snorting angrily.

Alright, this might be easier if we just split up took the pigs one on one…"Sandy, you kill the pig over there, I'll take care of this one. Just don't get hit by its snout, okay?"

"**...bacon...sounds good…"**

I nodded. Yes, it sure did.

Sandy dropped me and I let gravity power my incoming kick to the pigs head and made sure to hit him right between the eyes for a quick knockout. Thankfully, that's exactly what happened. My feet slammed into its skull and it dropped without a fight. I blinked down at it, honestly surprised that it was that easy. _Really, a hit to the head was all it took?_

Loud squealing had me turn to see how Sandy was doing, and I couldn't help but feel sorry for the boar. Sandy had taken a more vicious approach and had clawed nearly every square inch of its hide. After suffering from too many gaping slash wounds, it finally dropped. Sandy gave a war cry and stabbed his hand straight through the side of its head, killing it instantly.

I winced, knowing that I couldn't take _this _pig back. I eyed its underbelly and saw that it was mostly intact. Huh, or maybe I _could._ I didn't need to really cook the whole pig, I just needed to make a dish, and there was plenty of undamaged meat there. Although...I shook my head and dismissed the idea. No, I didn't want the whole group of contestants to see how strong I really was, so I'll have to leave Sandy's game here.

I reached for the large pig's neck, ready to break its neck for a quick kill, but jumped back when a black hand was suddenly buried up to the the knuckles in its forehead. Well, that works too I guess.

"Thanks for the help, Sandy," I said, only to blink when he was already fading away. I frowned at the dissipating cloud of black matter. He's been doing that a lot recently. In the beginning, he would come out without any prompting from me from time to time, but now he was acting a lot more independent. It's not like I've done anything too different with him...well, aside from training, I suppose. He was great practicing taking on larger opponents, which was nearly _everyone _to me.

Although, even when he was out, he would act differently as well. He repeated random phrases without prompting, sometimes he would lash out at trees or wildlife with deadly force. He never attacked me with ill intent, so I know it's not something _I _did, but it was still disconcerting.

Just two weeks before Gon and I left Whale Island, I was having a particularly off day while sparring. I knew that the day where my brother left to try to catch the lake king was closing in, and I wasn't really feeling up to doing _anything _but sulk. Sandy caught on to my feelings through our link and acted out.

**xX very quick flashback Xx**

_Just when I was going to throw a half-hearted punch at his ribcage, he simply dodged and started to walk away. _

"_Sandy?" I called after confused. He ignored me, only walked away to stand in front of a tree. I approached him slowly, trying to decipher the fleeting emotions through our bond. Just when I was an arms' length away, he suddenly started to scale up the tree, not stopping until he was near the top. After a couple of minutes, he just went away on his own, not even acknowledging me._

_I figured I had annoyed him somehow, and when I willed him out for the second time that day, he just repeated a random sentence and walked away again, only this time he stopped a few feet away and crouched down. When I followed him to see what he was doing, he just sat there, bouncing on the balls of his feet and drawing a fish creature in the dirt._

_I still didn't figure out what caused the change, and when I called him out for a third time later that day, he was completely normal. _

**xX present Xx**

I shook my head and stopped wondering about my ghostly friend for now, and lifted the pig onto my back, feet up. It was heavy, I definitely couldn't run with it. I trudged back to where I heard the sounds of fighting. About five minutes later, I joined back up with the others and held in a snort of laughter at the clumsy finishing blow Leorio dealt his pig.

"Hey, guys! I'm back." I announced, trudging over with my catch still half dragging on the ground.

Gon gave me a bright smile and waved, while the others just gave me welcoming nods. Even Killua, although he was still acting like Mr. Cool over there with his hands in his pockets and that nonchalant expression.

On our way back to the courtyard, Leorio suddenly started bragging about how easily he took out his killer pig. "You know, I could have taken my pig out if I had just hit a few more times…"

Kurapika gave Leorio a look of disbelief. "A few more times? How about _one _time?"

"What?! I got at least two or three hits in, you little brat." Leorio said, looking disgruntled.

"Oh please, you didn't hit anything but trees." I snarked, giving him a smirk. He looked down at me incredulously. "How the hell would _you _know? You had already run away before the fighting began!"

I scowled at the sudden snickers that came from my right. "I was leading some away from you guys, alright? I needed some distance to fight it effectively!" _With Sandy. _

Killua shot me a sly grin, looking like a cat who caught the canary. "Oh yeah? Where were you planning to fight it, the freaking moon? Any farther, and you'd have left the Reserve!"

I rolled my eyes up to the heavens and begged for patience. I heard Gon giggling, and could practically feel Kurapika shaking in laughter too. "You know what? Maybe I just fight better _alone, _you ever think of that you little shit?"

Gon scolded me for my bad language while Killua gaped at me. "_Hah? _I'm taller than you, you idiot!"

I heard Leorio let out a guwaff and just sped up, making sure to jostled both Leorio _and _Killua when I passed them and hearing them curse at me made me smile just a bit.

**XXX**

All this cooking was making me starved.

I went with my plan of making bacon and used my pig's generous belly to make enough for an army. I, of course, wasn't a complete animal, so I had skinned and gutted the pig before cutting off the meat needed, unlike _everybody else. _Well, except Gon, he knew how to skin and gut animals too, but he just stuck the pig on the spit and was roasting it just like the rest of them!

Seriously, did not a single person here know how to cook?!

Even Hisoka was cooking his pig on the spit and didn't look like he really cared that he had already burnt the underside a bit too much. I could see the charred hide from here.

I shook my head and went back to frying my strips of bacon. A plate was already done, but that was just for me to eat while I cooked, since I was so hungry. I, however, frowned when I noticed how bland the bacon was. I wasn't really a picky eater, but I knew I needed to do better when the arrogant wrestler who antagonized Menchi before was failed. I knew instinctively that she wouldn't be happy with my mediocre bacon.

Luckily I had rooted through the cabinets of the cooking station earlier and found just enough ingredients to make some of Auntie's homemade barbecue sauce. But I had to figure out how to cook ribs first. So with that in mind, I dumped the last batch of bacon onto the large mound beside me and got to work.

I cut up the ribs and started up the grill. I grabbed the two onions that were given to us, some molasses, a little bottle of mustard, and vinegar for the sauce. I idly watched more contestants show their roasted pork to the proctors while I diced the onions, and felt even more nervous when every single one failed.

It was Leorio's turn to try when I put everything together into my bacon pan, and I let out a giggle when I saw his 'presentation'. All he did was stick a flag in it's back! Is he that stupid? I rolled my eyes and mixed my barbecue sauce. I did a double take when I saw Gon's pig.

_Oh, brother, she's not going to like that any better than Leorio's...but it's super cute!_

I stirred my sauce and giggled at his downtrodden look when Menchi failed him. I honestly wasn't expecting to pass either, so he won't be alone. Menchi's expectations were way too high, I don't think anyone here would be able to impress her.

After making sure the sauce was thick enough, I spread the sauce onto the ribs and let them cook for a couple of minutes. With how hot the grill was, they shouldn't take too long. A dejected Gon and Leorio headed over to join me, their glum expression quickly morphing to hungry ones when they caught a whiff of my cooking.

"Damn, Guren! This smells amazing!" Leorio exclaimed, practically shoving his face over the grill. I pushed him away before he could drool all over my dish.

"Knock it off! If you're hungry, there's a plate of bacon on the counter over there. There's plenty still, but make sure you two don't eat it all, I want Kurapika and Killua to have some too."

"You're the best, sis!" Gon exclaimed, hugging me tightly before heading over to the bacon where Leorio was already stuffing his face. I gave him a smile.

I checked the ribs and saw that I only had a couple of minutes left before they were done, and saw Kurapika up at the judging table with something that _wasn't _a whole pig. I smiled, ashamed that I had ever doubted the teen. I should have known that at least _he _would put some thought into his dish.

My smile widened when Menchi actually took a bite, tasting somebody's dish for the first time so far. _Nice job, Kurapika!_

Then not even two seconds later Menchi spat out the food into the trash next to her and tossed the dish aside much like the rest, Buhara happily catching the flying pork. Oh no, what happened?

"It tastes disgusting! Presentation is important, but it needs to taste good, too. You're just as bad as #403!"

I winced at that. Ouch.

"Ha! What a shame." Leorio laughed, giving Kurapika a grin as he walked over. The blonde didn't even look his way, too depressed by the comparison. I couldn't blame him.

I put my ribs on the plate and wished I had something else to go with it, but shrugged, not really invested in the test anymore. Gon failed, and I wasn't about to become a hunter without him. Even if I wanted to, I knew Menchi was going to hate it anyway.

I walked up to the table and saw that Buhara was looking quite full, and Menchi was at her limit of patience. _Well, let's get this over with._

"Here you go, some pork ribs with my auntie's homemade barbecue sauce. I hope you like it." I said garnet eyes looking between the two.

Buhara's eyes lit up when he took in my dish, and immediately picked up two of the four ribs and dug in. Menchi was eyeing my plate with a skeptical gaze, probably remembering Kurapika's nice looking dish that tasted like crap. "Mm!" Buhara moaned, and I saw that both ribs were gone already. "That was pretty good! You pass!"

I gave him a grateful smile and turned towards the real challenge. The woman picked up a rib and took a bite, eyes closed as she chewed. I waited impatiently, already prepared for the outcome, and just rocked back and forth on my heels.

To my relief, she didn't spit it out. She didn't eat any more either, though. "Hmph, the meat's overcooked. And the presentation is pretty bland with just ribs on the plate."

I nodded, bored. _Yeah, yeah. I'm not a chef or a gourmet hunter. I get it already. _

"Not to mention the sauce, ugh, could it _be _any sweeter? Gross." Menchi huffed, and let Buhara take the rest of the ribs.

I froze. "_Excuse me?"_

"I said, it's too sweet. It doesn't taste good with the pork. Fail."

I glowered at the woman and felt the air around me get cooler. "So not only are you an old hag with impossibly high standards but a hypocrite, too?"

Menchi's face quickly burned red and she slowly got to her feet to glare down at me. "_What was that?"_

"What, are you going deaf from age?" I said, sounding like it wasn't really a surprise. "I said you're acting like a hypocrite. No better than that shitty wrestler earlier when he looked down on you for being a gourmet hunter."

Menchi had fire in her eyes and she suddenly had a butcher knife in her hand. "You better respect your elders, you little brat." She hissed, looking like she was seconds from vaulting over the table at me. "If I say you fail, then you _fail. _I'm the expert, _not you." _

I gave her an unimpressed look. "I don't care that you failed me. I came up here knowing you would. But that doesn't give you the right to say that Aunt Mito's homemade barbecue sauce is gross. That was uncalled for." I said, not letting my anger show. I turned towards Buhara and gave him my Gon smile. If anything it made him grimace a bit, like I had unsettled him.

"Thank you for judging us _fairly, _sir." Without sparing Menchi another glance, I hopped down to the ground and walked back towards my group, ignoring the many gazes drilling into me.

I heard a clunk behind me, sounding like a knife stabbing into the table. "No one passed the test, so we're done here!" Menchi called out, still sounding pissed.

That made two of us. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at her as various contestants starting complaining, the wrestler being the loudest.

I almost hoped that Hisoka would seek me out after we got out of here, now. I could take my anger and frustration out on him during our fight. I sighed and reached for another piece of bacon to munch on. No, I didn't really want that. A fight with him isn't something to hope for, and I really needed to calm down before my anger took control of me.

I glanced at Gon. Man, since when did _I _get so easily riled up? I'm usually calm and level headed, but I've been acting like my bratty younger self today. Getting pissed at Hisoka was one thing; I had thought he'd hurt my sweet brother, but to snap at a stronger opponent just for shit talking? That's the stupid stuff I thought I'd gotten over by now.

My musings were interrupted when something fell from the sky and crashed into the courtyard like a ton of bricks, kicking up a thick cloud of dust. I stared in shock as an old man walked calmly out of the cloud towards Menchi. What the hell, did that grandpa have bones of steel?!

"Who's that old man?" Somebody asked, and it was Menchi who answered, looking serious. "He's the head of the selection committee, and the person in charge of the exams, chairman Netero."

I blinked, comprehension dawning. Huh, no wonder the long fall didn't phase him. The old man was probably stronger than he looked.

**XXX**

Netero reasoned with Menchi to get us a new task to do for the second phase, but it honestly sounded easier than the first. Until I saw which eggs we would be cooking.

I couldn't take my eyes off the webby nest down below, and I felt excitement bubble up as I watched Menchi go about getting her spider eagle egg. That looked like so much fun! I wanted to jump down and swing around too! And that free fall...and then she flew right back up from the updraft!

So...cool!

I quickly slipped my boots off so that I was barefoot, and backed up a couple of steps from the edge.

"That's...that's crazy! Nobody _sane _would jump from so high up-"

I cut the wrestler off with a whoop of joy as I jumped into the chasm, heart pounding from the rush of adrenaline. I wasn't scared of falling to my death of course, but I had never jumped from so high up that I couldn't see the ground beneath me, and the unknown was exhilarating.

Unlike Menchi, I didn't aim for the threads hands first. Instead, I landed feet first, staying put until the thread stopping wobbling. I heard Gon let out whoop similar to mine, and I grinned. I looked up to see him, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio only seconds behind me, all landing on a thread a the front.

I stayed put as more people jumped down, not wanting to get unbalanced if people landed on my thread. Everyone else hung by their hands, and as the last few men to jump joined me on my thread, I stood up and starting walking the thread like a tightrope, making my way to where one of the clusters of eggs hung.

"Hey, little girl, where'd you learn to do that? The circus?." One of the men jeered from below. His neighbor laughed, sounding just as intelligent as the former. "Guess there are two clowns trying to be Hunters this year." He said, obviously referring to Hisoka.

Hey, I look nothing like a clown!

I rolled my eyes hopped over their hands with a little more force than necessary. They let out frightened yelps when the thread bounced erratically, making me smirk. Not so tough now, huh?

I fell forward once I was over the eggs, hooking my feet around the thread so I wouldn't fall. I reached for the closest egg, straining my arms to stretch as far as they could when I felt my fingertips touch the shell. I heard some people let go prematurely, falling to their deaths. I knew it wasn't time yet, but it would be before long.

I absently felt the thread wobble and adjusted my feet to grip it more securely. I glanced at the thick thread that was holding the cluster up and reached out to grab it, hoping to carefully pull it up so they were closer. Just as my fingers closed around the webbing, something struck me hard on the side of my face.

I yelped in pain, the sound drowned out by the terrified screams of those who jumped early. I abandoned the cluster and brought my arms up to block the next hit, and saw that my attacker was the jerk from earlier. He was giving me a nasty grin, malice lighting up his eyes.

Blood ran into my hair as I glared at the bastard. He went to kick me again, and I quickly grabbed his leg. Meeting his eyes, I gave him a shark's grin and _pulled_.

His eyes rounded with terror as he lost hold of the thread, unprepared for my strength. He let out a terrified scream as he plummeted to his death.

"Serves you right…" I muttered and shot a look at his buddy who had frozen a couple of paces away, daring him to try anything. He quickly shuffled away in fright.

I allowed myself a small, satisfied smirk before quickly tossing a look in Gon's direction. Luckily, he and the others didn't witness my cold-hearted action. I continued what I was doing and tried to grab an egg. Suddenly I froze, sniffing the air. It was time.

My feet unhooked from the thread and I grabbed an egg as I fell, a carefree grin on my face. I laughed, loving the feeling of the wind on my face. Then the updraft was there, and I was flying back up. I rolled through the air so I was face up, egg tucked safely against my chest. I wanted to remember this feeling for the rest of my life...this, _freedom_…

**XXX**

"Allow me to introduce myself to the remaining forty-three remaining applicants. I am Netero, chairman of this year's Hunter's Exam selection committee."

The little bean person who handed out tags spoke up next. "I am his secretary Beans."

I smiled when I heard that his name was actually Beans. How cute.

Netero and Beans explained that we could do as we pleased while the blimp took us to the next phase's location, including getting rest and grabbing a bite to eat. Once we were dismissed, Killua turned to Gon and me.

"Hey Gon, Guren, let's go check out the ship," Killua said, looking excited to explore. Gon nodded, looking just as eager. I shook my head, rubbing my stomach. "Nah, I'm hungry again. I wanna go find something to eat and take a shower-"

Killua took hold of one of my hands, Gon quickly copying him. "Oh come on! We're going to get food too, so let's go!"

"H-hey!"

They ignored my protests and pulled me out of the room, I shot a scowl at the two chuckling males behind me that didn't do a thing to help. Hmph, see if I make food for _them _again.

**XXX**

"Really, you want to raid the kitchen?" I whispered incredulously, leaning against the wall by the door leading to the kitchen. There were chefs and waiters busying about, with trays and carts that were being taken to the proctors and applicants. The smells wafting from the room were quickly dwindling down my indignation to steal.

"Hey, you said you wanted to eat." Killua pointed out in a whisper.

I gave him a look. "Yeah, with everyone else like we were told," I muttered back.

Killua rolled his blue eyes. "Oh come on, don't be such a baby."

I turned to Gon who was next to me. "Gon, you know this isn't a good idea, right?"

He looked uncomfortable to be brought into our bickering and averted his eyes. "Um, well, Killua says we won't get caught…?"

I gaped. Where had my sweet innocent brother gone? I glared at the smug silvette on the other side of the door frame. This kid's corrupted my brother! "The best stuffs probably already gone, but I bet we can find some good stuff they got stashed!" Killua said while leaning up to take a quick peek through the doors small window.

"Good stuff? Like cake?" Gon whispered excitedly, making me pause. Cake?

Killua was sporting his feline smirk, knowing he had us hook, line and sinker. "I bet they even have ice cream."

My eyes widened and without anymore deliberating I called out Sandy. If they had cake or _ice cream,_ it would be worth it.

"I'll cause the distraction while you two go in and grab us food, got it?" I said, looking up at my hulking soul sibling.

"I knew you'd see it my way." Killua boasted.

I rolled my eyes again and tried to find patience. "Okay, so you guys wait here, and I'm going to go in there and make sure they're facing away from the door so you can sneak in. The signal to come in will be 'ghost'." I said, giving Gon a wink, causing him to light up in understanding. "Gon, I'll need you to let me know when you make it out so I can escape." I looked at the three crouched around me. "Sound good?"

The boys nodded and Sandy gave me a thumbs up, unbeknownst to Gon and Killua. I stood up and got ready for some acting, and relayed as best as I could through our bond what I wanted Sandy to go. I walked into the room looking like a lost child, gaining the attention of all of its occupants.

"Hey, you can't be in here!" One of the chefs berated, storming over to me.

I hunched my shoulders to make myself look smaller. "I-I'm sorry, um, I was just trying to find…" I cut myself off and stared at the far side of the kitchen with wide eyes. "Um...wh-what is that?" I stuttered, pointing over there shoulders.

As one, they all turned and stared dumbly at the tray of empty plates just floating in mid-air. "It's...it's a ghost!" I cried out in faux fear, and on cue, Sandy suddenly tossed the tray into the wall next to him, causing every adult in the room to jump out of shock and fearfully dashed out the door behind me.

Once they were all gone, I gave Sandy a smirk. "Good job Sandy!"

He gave me another thumbs up. "**...no problem…"**

I looked around the kitchens. There looked to by only one pantry and one freezer; Gon was already deep into the pantry, while Killua headed towards the freezer. I turned back to Sandy only to see that he as gone. Oh, he must have faded away already.

I shrugged and quickly headed towards the open freezer. Killua was already in there, arms full of sweets ranging from cupcakes, cake pops, and chocolate strawberries.

Jeez, I should have recognized a fellow sweet tooth by the glint in his eye before we even entered the kitchen!

I wasn't even surprised to see his face already stuffed, crumbs covering his cheeks. "Hey, stop hogging the goods to yourself and go make sure Gon doesn't need help, I'll grab us some ice cream."

He tried to say something back, but only sprayed crumbs at me. I gave him a look of disgust, stealing a cake pop when he passed by. I idly munched on the cake pop while I rooted through the shelves, specifically for ice cream. Then, I finally found what I was looking for.

"Yes!" I cheered, pulling out a tub of what looked like chocolate ice cream. To my elation, there was dipped ice cream cones behind that. Score!

I finished off my stolen cake pop and piled as many as I could on the tub, after ripping apart the wrapper to a strawberry dipped cone. I walked out of the freezer with a skip in my step, happily munching on my pink cone; man, even the cone was strawberry flavored!

"Mission successful! Let's get out of here before somebody comes back." Killua smirked. Gon's arms were full of sausages and various other meats, some of which he already had stuffed in his mouth. "By the way, where did your shoes go, Guren?"

I paused mid-bite and looked down at my bare feet. "Huh."

Gon giggled. "Sis has a bad habit of kicking off her shoes and then forgetting."

Killua gave me a look. "What are you, an idiot?"

I gave him a scowl. "No! I just don't like shoes!" Where _did _I take them off though? I honestly don't remember…

"Why didn't you just wear sandals here then?" Killua asked, giving my brother a 'is she serious' look.

Gon answered before I could give a cutting remark. "Aunt Mito bought us matching outfits, and the boots go with the set. Also, the boots are better suited for running."

We had just turned down the corridor away from the kitchen when we heard a shout. "Someone's raided the pantry!"

Another voice cried, "The freezer too!"

Gon, Killua and I looked at each other for a second, before Gon suddenly said, "Scatter!"

We bolted off into different directions; Gon and Killua in one, and I ran the opposite. I heard footsteps clamoring in the hall where we just were, and quickly scanned the hallways for somewhere to hide. I could easily outrun any pursuers, but I had to run a bit slower so I didn't drop any of the cones.

After all that work, I was _not _giving up my reward!

There was a door slightly ajar a couple of steps ahead, and I quickly slipped into it, slamming my back against it. I pressed my ear against the door and listened, growing tense when footsteps got closer. I slowly kneeled down and set the tub down so my hands were free, and prepared for the worse when angry voices got closer to the door.

"It was that little girl from before, I just know it! She must have tricked us with that floating trick just so she could get to our food!" A man said, sounding like the chef from before.

A younger man's voice answered him. "Are you sure, sir? There was a lot of food missing, and she was just a young-"

"These are the Hunter Exams, boy." The chef cut in sternly. "Don't underestimate any of them. We have to find that brat...she almost all of the ice cream and pastries…"

The voices came to a stop right by the door, and I took a step back. I took the cone out of my mouth and ignored the stickiness coating my lips, trying to think of a plan if they investigated the room. It was dark, and a quick glance showed that it was empty. There was a pile of something on the bed, but I couldn't make out what it was from here.

I took in a silent breath when my pursuers spoke again. "She was just in front of us, I think she slipped into this room here…"

"Sir, I think we should just let it be...I mean, this could just be one of the other applicant's rooms-"

"Be quiet! She has to be in here. When I get my hands on that little shit, I'm gonna dice up her fingers and make her eat them! Nobody steals from me!"

The doorknob started to turn and I was frozen with indecision. I need to go hide under the bed or something, but if I left my stolen goodies by the door, they'll know for sure I was in here anyway.

My gaze bounced between the bed and the ice cream, the door clicked open-

I let out an involuntary scream of terror when I was suddenly grabbed, lifting me right off the ground; except they must have expected that because a large hand was over my mouth before I made a sound. I dropped my half-eaten cone and thrashed instinctually, causing my much bigger attacker to squeeze their arm around my middle hard enough that I thought my lungs would collapse.

Light filtered into the room when the door was opened a crack, but I was held so that I was hidden in shadows, and I felt my heart jump into my throat when I heard, "Is there a reason why you're barging into my room~?"

His voice had the same sing-song quality it usually did, but it now held a dangerous edge to it. Oh god. Oh shit, I sneaked into _Hisoka's _room-

"W-we're really s-sorry, sir! We w-were looking f-for a young girl. She s-stole from the k-kitchen and-"

"I don't care." The evil magician cut the stuttering man off, and suddenly released a dampened version of his killing intent. I shook in his hold at the close exposure.

The men on the other side of the door got the hidden message, which was leave or die. "S-sorry to disturb y-you," I heard them dash away and Hisoka kicked the door shut with a slam, the air once again clear of killing intent.

I swallowed, my throat dry when I realized that I had jumped out of the frying pan and straight into the fire. I would rather risk getting my fingers cut off than be in a dark room alone with Hisoka.

The first thing I did when he uncovered my mouth was say, "Sorry about that. I thought the room was empty." I wasn't about to be rude and risk my arms getting cut off like the guy who bumped into him before the exams started.

"You need to work on your situational awareness, little Guren~" He drawled, and set me back on my feet.

I quickly turned so I was facing him, and flinched at how eerie his eyes looked in the darkness. This must be how a panther looks when it's stalking you in the night. "R-right. Well, I'll leave you be now. Sorry again." I reached down to pick up my ice cream, only to be shoved against the door none-too-gently by his index finger. I looked up at him startled and tried not to flinch again when he towered over me.

"What's the hurry? You just got here~" He purred, golden eyes dancing across my face.

I cleared my suddenly dry throat. "Um, I have to meet up with my brother and Killua…"

His hand drifted up from my chest to wipe away something under my bottom lip. "Hm, but I'm _bored. _Won't you stay and entertain me for a bit~?" His voice got a bit lower, and for some reason that on top of his fingers so close to my mouth made my cheeks get hot.

"Oh...um...but what would we even do…?" I asked, brows furrowed with uncertainty.

Oh, I really didn't like the way his eyes flashed…

"There's no way we can fight right now," I said immediately, knowing that he probably wanted that. "I don't think we're allowed to fight each other right now if we did we'd be disqualified…"

He didn't say anything, only brought his thumb up to his mouth and licked something off of it, not breaking eye contact. My eyes drifted away from his, unable to take the intensity anymore. My eyes landed on the perfect distraction. "Oh no!" I exclaimed, staring in dismay at my fallen cone.

"Hm?" Hisoka followed my gaze. "Ah...I suppose that was what brought the miffed cooks to my door~?"

I picked the cone up and threw it into the trash bin by the door with great regret. "Yeah..but it's ice cream, so it was worth it," I said, not needing to say anything else. It was _ice cream_, what more reason was there?

"I see~" Hisoka hummed, picking up the tub and holding it up high. "This is a lot of ice cream for such a tiny thing like you~"

"So?" I reached out for it and he only held it up higher, smirk widening. Seeing as my head just barely came up to his waist, I'd have to jump just to get it; and knowing him, he'd be able to keep it away from me effortlessly anyway. "Come on," I whined, trying to jump up and get it. The redhead only held it above his head.

I glowered. "I risked getting my fingers cut off for that, give it back!" I would be tempted to just climb him like a tree to get it, but he might take that as a declaration to fight.

"You're so silly, Guren~" Hisoka reached out and pinched my cheek. "As if I'd let someone else try to harm my newest fruit~"

I rubbed my smarting cheek and gave him a glare. "Who are you calling a fruit?" I groused. Seriously, could he be any weirder? "Look, if you want some of my ice cream, I'm willing to share some, alright?" I begrudgingly offered.

Hisoka just let out a short chuckle and walked over to the bed. He set down the ice cream on the bedside table and gathered up the pile of what I now saw were his cards. He shuffled them into a cleanly stacked deck in like two seconds and pocketed them. He sat on the edge of the bed and patted the space next to him, giving me an inviting smile.

I hesitantly walked towards him and grabbed another strawberry flavored cone before I hopped onto the bed, sitting cross-legged a decent distance away. Just because he was being civil, didn't mean I felt comfortable being that close to him.

I unwrapped my cone and took a small bite into it, breaking through the hard coating and into the soft scoop. I studied the blanket as my thoughts drifted. Why did being around Hisoka make me feel so confused? One second I was wary and on edge with him, for good reason. The next I was at ease, like I'd known him my whole life and knew he wouldn't do anything.

My brows furrowed and I took a bigger bite, smearing pink around my lips. No, that wasn't right. Nothing about Hisoka gave off the impression that he was harmless. I _did _know that he could do anything to me, and I wouldn't be able to stop him. I knew he was much stronger than me; he knew it too.

That was the core of my confusion. I knew I wasn't safe, but I didn't care. I...I think I _liked _being around the magician.

I licked up more ice cream and frowned in consternation. Why did I feel so comfortable with him? It just didn't make sense. It wasn't just my inability to die, I knew that for sure. I wasn't scared of him, per se, but I _was _unnerved. I was curious; every little thing he did was intriguing to me. Was my curiosity really an excuse to be around him so much, though? Alone, unprotected…

Vulnerable.

A shiver raced down my spine and I glanced up to see him staring at me with a blank face.

I swallowed my mouthful of strawberry goodness and felt uneasy by the serious expression. But I wasn't afraid. I licked my lips nervously. His eyes tracked the movement.

He didn't say anything, but he looked like he was fighting with himself. I saw it in his predatory eyes and when he bit his bottom lip. I became even warier when his arm started spazzing, and he brought his other hand to clamp over the bicep as if holding it in place.

...What was his problem? I saw that he didn't bother to eat with me, instead, he watched me eat with unnerving fascination. I continued to watch him suspiciously and started eating again, licking up the last bit of ice cream that rested on top of the cone. My brows jumped up in befuddlement when Hisoka suddenly let out a groan.

I had to say something. "Um...are you okay?" I jumped when a clawed hand was suddenly reaching for my face, and brought my ice cream cone up like a shield. Hisoka blinked at the waffle cone that was obstructing his path. He gave me an odd look; like he couldn't decide on being amused that I thought a cone could stop him or irritated that I even tried.

"You startled me," I said, justifying myself. I leaned back and took another bite of my cone, inwardly apologizing to it. I can't believe I almost sacrificed it to Hisoka! It didn't deserve a fate similar to it's fallen comrade.

"Did I~?" Hisoka asked, bringing his hand back down to rest on his knee. "You have some ice cream on your face~"

Probably. I hummed in agreement and wiped off my cheek with the back of my hand. "I didn't wake you up when I came in here, did I?" I asked, referring to the dark room. The blankets didn't look ruffled, but it didn't make sense to just sit in the darkness doing nothing.

Now that I thought about it, why was the light still off?

He shook his head and repositioned himself so that he was sitting against the headboard with his legs stretched out behind me. "I've been daydreaming mostly~," He sighed, a faraway look in his eyes. His smile returned to his face as he thought about something that pleased him. The chill running down my spine was a sure sign that I didn't want to know.

"Okay…" I ate the rest of my cone and tried to think of a topic to talk about. I really didn't want him to elaborate about whatever fantasies he's been having, they were probably disturbing. I quickly swallowed the rest of my treat. "So is there anyone else?"

The magician raised a brow. "Hm~?"

"You know...anybody else here that you want to fight…?" I elaborated, not sure what I wanted him to say. It would be good if there was, then I could put off our fight for longer. If I was the only one…

My heart pounded at the thought of him only thinking about me. I bit my lip, annoyed at myself. I was being dangerously irrational around this man. I seriously didn't understand what my deal was.

"Ah~ There's a few unripened fruits that have caught my eye~" Hisoka drawled, smile widening a bit.

I raised a brow at the fruit reference again. "I wonder what you're favorite food is?" I mumbled sarcastically and went to grab another cone. I kneeled uncomfortably close to the redhead as I perused the ice cream wrappers, looking for something that wasn't strawberry.

Hmm, maybe chocolate? Ooh, white chocolate! I grinned and instantly ripped it open.

"Who's to say~? But I'm sure I could guess _yours_~" Hisoka said, and I was confused before I remembered. Ah, guess he wasn't fluent in sarcasm. Or maybe he just didn't care.

I gave him a side glance. By the look of that smirk, it was the latter. I rolled my eyes and took a generous bite of my ice cream, making sure not to get any cookie crumbs on his bed. "So what? Ice creams the best food in the world!" I declared, taking an over exaggerated bite to prove my claim.

"I'm partial to strawberry shortcake, myself~" Hisoka drawled, taking out his deck of cards and started to shuffle them.

"Yeah, but what's better than that?"

Hisoka opened his mouth but I cut him off before any words had a chance to form. "Strawberry shortcake _ice cream,"_ I smirked, knowing I won. Won what? Who knows, but I did!

Hisoka merely smiled and kept shuffling his cards. Oops, maybe I offended him? He seemed awfully unruffled though…

Suddenly my ice cream was gone. When I looked down I was holding a jack of hearts instead, and Hisoka was happily licking away at my half-eaten treat. My jaw dropped at the sight.

How the _hell _did he do that?! There was literally a poof of pink smoke and my treat was stolen.

Oh _hell no_.

I lunged at the smug asshole and tried to swipe my ice cream back, but he disappeared. I blinked at where he used to be and turned around when I heard him hum. He was standing a little bit away from the bed, happily licking away at my ice cream.

I stood up on the bed and stared him down. From this height, I was practically eye level with him. I tried to throw his card back at him the way he threw them at the ape, but unsurprisingly, it only fluttered to the ground between us. Hisoka's lips curled up higher in amusement while I just stood there with my arm out dramatically, feeling like a fool.

"Give it back." I demanded, trying not to blush.

"Don't be like that, little Guren. You _did _say you would share~" He chided, eating some more.

"Yeah, but not _mine!_ You don't even like ice cream!" I said, trying not to sound like a toddler throwing a fit. I'm not, damn it! I'm acting more grown-up than Hisoka right now!

"Of course I do. Who doesn't like ice cream~?" Hisoka asked, giving me a look that said I was weird for even asking. His eyes were laughing at me though. Bastard!

With a sound that sounded similar to that of a strangled cat, I leaped at him again. Forget not fighting, I'm kicking this clown's ass!

I aimed a kick at his stupid face but he only bent backward to avoid it, all the while eating my damn ice cream. Jesus, how flexible was he? He nearly bent himself in half doing that. I landed and barely brought my hands up in time to avoid face planting into the wall. I grit my teeth and attacked again.

Hisoka calmly planted his free hand onto the floor and flipped so that I sailed harmlessly under him. I was expecting him to dodge though, so quickly slammed my hands onto the floor and _pushed _so I could reverse kick him in the knees.

My feet connected with smoke.

_Damn that magician!_ I felt a whisper in the air and rolled just before Hisoka landed where I was a moment ago with a heavy _thud_. I scrambled up to my feet, fearing another counter-attack. Hisoka only smiled, like he hadn't just tried to break my back with that stomp. Well, maybe he didn't, but his fat ass probably would have if he landed on top of me!

I glared murderously when I saw that he had eaten the entire scoop of ice cream by now, and only had the cone left. I wailed internally at the loss.

My glare melted away into a blank expression. Hisoka raised a brow at the change. "What's the matter? Giving up~?" He mocked, eating nearly half the cone with his big dumb mouth with one bite. That crunch echoed throughout my mind, and I idly compared it to my dwindling composure.

No! Stay strong, do what auntie does to me… "You can have it. I'm just gonna go meet up with the boys and find a shower." I said, feigning indifference. I walked over to the rest of my ice cream on the nightstand and gathered them up in my arms.

He hummed, watching me slowly walk towards the door. I grabbed the doorknob and paused, throwing him a look over my shoulder that said, 'are you done being difficult now?'.

His answer was, "You're so _cute_, Guren~" before he tossed the rest of my snack into his mouth.

My collected mask fell away and I glowered at him. His eyes gleamed in response. I growled and ripped the door open, making sure to close it politely and calmly behind me. I hope he _felt_ it.

I stomped down the hallway, his chuckle following me.

**XXX**

I was still seething at the _nerve _of that jackass clown when I found the shower room. I set my ice cream down on a bench outside the showers and stripped aggressively, unable to get his stupid smug face out of my head. How dare he?!

I jumped into the warm spray and washed up, ranting in my head the whole time. I felt outsmarted and annoyed, just like in Swindler's Swamp. I felt foolish for even thinking that I could pull that reverse tactic my aunt did.

I let out a sigh and just stood underneath the stream, letting the water wash away my frustration. Honestly, all I wanted to do now was eat my ice cream and go to sleep. Gon and Killua were probably off having their own adventure somewhere on board, and lately, I've felt like a bit of a third wheel around them.

It made me feel a little...sad.

I was happy Gon found a friend his age that he got along with, don't get me wrong. He never really hung out with any other kids besides me, and we were okay with that. Gon actually preferred it that way, really. He loved spending time with me, and being the protective big brother that he was, felt like I was safest with him.

Which is why I felt so...strange without my sibling shadowing me everywhere I went. I didn't dislike the independence, but it still hurt a little to be so easily forgotten once he found a boy to play with. I shook my head and redressed. No, I needed to get over it. It wasn't that big of a deal. It's not like Gon would choose Killua over me anyway. New friends or not, we were twins. Family came first.

He wasn't Ging.

I'll make sure to stick by him in the next phase tomorrow. If I happened to avoid Hisoka all day as a result, well, then I guess it's true what they say about silver linings.

**XXX**

**Let me know what you think y'all, thanks.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hisoka is so hard to write y'all. Guren is too, really, because she's so conflicted right now. Instinct is telling her to get the FUCK away from Hisoka for her own safety but at the same time, she's unaware that he's her first crush. Poor thing.**

**I'm not the best at fight scenes, which is why I plan to put a decent amount in here to get better xD. Be prepared for that~ There ****_is _****more ajin stuff now, and Guren's resolve to take the exams like a regular mortal being is seriously tested in this chapter. As is her resolve with her ****_other _****problem. She succeeds with one of them.**

**Here we are, sorry for any mistakes. Also thanks for the reviews and dm's guys! Hope you like it!**

**XXX**

"So wait, Killua's whole family are _assassins?" _I gaped at Gon incredulously as we walked down the hallway early that morning. "Including him?"

"Yup!" Gon said enthusiastically. "He doesn't want to kill people though, so he ran away from home. He also knows this cool illusion ability that only assassins know! It was _so cool _when he used against Mr. Netero-"

_Geez, what did I miss out on last night?_

After taking a much-needed shower and eating my much-deserved ice cream last night, I couldn't find Gon or Killua but I did find where Leorio and Kurapika were sleeping. I ended up using the pretty boy's thigh as a pillow and slept there until early the next morning.

I woke up before most of the others in the room except for Hanzo and another applicant I didn't know and went out to find my brother. Not long after starting my search, Bean's voice spoke over the intercoms saying that we'd reached our destination. Lucky for me, I met up with Gon not long after and he excitedly told me about what he and Killua were up to after the kitchen fiasco.

I honestly wasn't sure how to feel about Killua now. It wasn't like I thought he was a bad person just because he was born into a family of assassins, but it _did _make him more dangerous than I'd previously thought. He didn't really seem like the type to kill if someone bothered him, unlike _some_ people I knew.

A heavy wind blew around us, causing me to shiver. Why did my outfit have to show so much skin again? I couldn't help but enjoy the view, though. The third phase was held on a very large tower that stood on top of an even _larger _rocky structure. The blimp seemed small like an ant compared to the tower.

I looked around at everyone gathering out of the airship. I caught sight of Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika, and nudged Gon and pointed them out. He immediately brightened and called them over, loudly. I tried not to fidget when he drew looks from other applicants as well.

I felt a shiver race down my spine and looked around. Why did I get the feeling someone was...oh.

Hisoka was staring at me from a couple of yards away. Or maybe he was staring at our group…?

His smile widened once I met his gaze. He gave me a subtle wave and winked.

I almost waved back, but then remembered what that ass did last night. So instead, I glared and turned away dismissively. I decided last night that I was going to forget him and stick with Gon, and the first step to that is avoiding him.

"Hey, why are your cheeks red, Sis?" Gon inquired innocently next to me, and I quickly placed my hands on them. Damn, they _were_ warm, weren't they? "Are you getting sick again? Maybe you shouldn't have had so many sweets last night," he fretted, placing his lips on my forehead.

I gave him a smile. "Aww! You're so cute, big bro!" I squealed and glomped him with a hug. He hugged me back a bit, before suddenly clearing his throat and pushing me away. I blinked at his embarrassed expression. Huh?

"C'mon sis, not in public." He chuckled nervously, glancing at Killua's teasing face.

I frowned at that. "Since when did you ever care about that? You started it, anyway!" I accused, flicking him in the nose lightly.

He pouted and went to respond, but just then Beans announced, "Everyone, the Exam's Third Phase will begin here, at the top of Trick Tower. To pass, you must reach the tower's base alive. The time limit is seventy-two hours." The little bean man held up his hands. "With that, we will now begin the Third Phase."

I pushed away my unhappiness at Gon's strange behavior and looked around. _We were supposed to get down this thing? Was it a test of courage? Were we expected to climb down?_

I shook my head and wandered towards the edge to peer down. _No, there's no way. There has to be something we're missing._

A wry smirk pulled up at my lips. _Well, I guess I could always just jump. I could probably sneak over the edge before anyone noticed. I'd be reset and before anyone even knew any better, too._

No! No unnecessary deaths! I wanted to do this phase with Gon, anyway.

I glanced back over to Gon only to see him and our group at the edge a ways away staring over the edge. My eyes widened a bit. They weren't considering climbing down...right?

My brother kneeled down onto his knees and peered over the edge. I jogged towards them, but I only made it four steps before a tile suddenly gave away underneath my foot, and I fell through the floor with a startled yelp.

I barely managed to land on my feet after the not so long drop. I looked at my new surroundings and saw that it was cold and dark. _Well, I guess that's how we get through the Trick Tower..._

A glance up showed the trap door that I fell through, and I was disappointed that I couldn't do the phase with Gon. Unless multiple people could fall through the same door?

I walked towards the only other thing in the room and read the blue glowing screen above a small table.

_For this task, you and your partner will need to make it to the bottom of the tower together. If one of you dies or is unable to clear the tower with your partner, you both will fail. The two cuffs monitor your vitals, and cannot be removed again until you both reach the bottom. Good luck. _

Hope bubbled up in my chest. So I _could _do this with Gon! Surely he heard my scream when I fell, he'll come and investigate and then he'll fall through and then we'll have this phase in the bag-!

I heard the trap door open up again and I grinned. My intuition was right!

When I heard Gon land I didn't bother turning around and just said over my shoulder, "'Bout time, slowpoke. I thought you were going to keep me waiting."

He didn't answer, but I heard him walk closer with barely audible steps. "You owe me a hug, by the way. I don't care if it's now or in front of your new friend, I'm your sister." I pouted and picked up one of the cuffs (it was a watch, really) that were sitting on the small table. "You know I can't function properly without my daily dose of affection." I teased and slipped on my watch. I could feel him right behind me now, and we both watched my heart rate come to life on the small screen. It had sharp lines and a number above it that fluctuated between fifty and fifty-five. I guess that's normal?

Then, Gon finally spoke up; except it wasn't his cute, bubbly voice I heard. This voice was unmistakable in both cadence and inflection and belonged to someone I wanted to avoid.

"Oh~? Is that why you ignored me so rudely earlier~?" Hisoka said in a honeyed tone.

_No..._

My heart skipped a beat in dread and I flinched. I tried to whirl around but his clawed hand gripped the back of my neck before I could and slammed my head down onto the small table, my nose just centimeters away from the other watch. It nearly clattered off the table from the force of my head hitting the table.

"I was really hurt, you know~" I clenched my fists, ready to strike back, but froze when his nails dug into my neck in warning. He bent over so that his face was right next to mine. He was so close I could feel his card suited shirt drape against my bare arm.

Hisoka's eyes narrowed further as he stared from _way too close._ "I don't take..._kindly..._to being ignored~," He said in a low and threatening way. His tone still held a certain lilt, but there was no mistaking the danger brimming underneath. I swallowed. He was serious.

Damn him, I wanted _space, _and now not only do I have to work with him to pass this phase, but he was also pissed off at me. That just multiplies the risk of him snapping and killing me.

"Well, I don't like it when people steal my dessert." I snarked, meeting his severe look with a smile. It wasn't a nice smile; it was sharp and daring. Honestly, I wasn't even angry about it anymore; annoyed, yes, but mostly at myself.

Really, I needed to learn to keep my mouth shut.

The magician leaned away a bit and grabbed one of my fists with his free hand. I fought against him, trying to pull my hand out of his grasp, but his strength far outmatched my own. He brought my hand up so that my palm was facing me, and started to apply pressure to the joint of my thumb. My heart jolted in my chest.

"I'm usually fairly good at reading people, but you have me at a loss, little Guren~," He said, eyes fixed on my face as he applied more and more pressure. "I can't figure out if you lack self-preservation, or if you're just an idiot."

My hand was really hurting now, but I only grit my teeth and snapped my garnet eyes up to meet cold amber defiantly. I wasn't about to show fear, that would only entice the beast.

A dull pop echoed through the small room as he pushed too much on the joint and broke my thumb.

My eyes clenched shut in pain and I bit down on my lip to stop from making any sounds. A small part of me didn't think he'd really do it, and I wanted to laugh hysterically at my own stupidity.

My lips twitched up as I felt the painful throbbing in my hand. I _knew_ that he was a cold-hearted killer, why would I expect him to hold back on breaking a little girl's bones? I fell for his ruse like those foolish men did when seeing the beautiful butterflies in the swamp. His allure, his companionship last night, his humanity…I let myself be fooled, practically bared my throat for the snake to strike.

God, that was so _hilarious!_

I felt Hisoka grab my index finger and bit my lip harder to hold in the giggles. The sane part of my mind; the part that I liked to believe was the girl I used to be before I died, was screaming that there was _nothing _funny about my situation. _The hungry wolf is playing with me before it ate me alive, I needed to fight back with everything I had!_

But the rest of my brain; the voice I let influence me for years spoke with calm, unperturbed logic. _So what? They're just broken bones. All I need to do is die, and everything will be alright._

I grinned and opened my eyes to meet his again. They were slightly wider than normal and were darting from my mirthful grin and back to my shining eyes. I'm sure I didn't look that sane, but couldn't really care right then.

"Probably an idiot with no self-preservation," I said, voice wobbly. I was trying not to let out manic laughter, but if he assumed it was wobbly from pain than that was fine. "But I'll let you know something, Hi-so-ka..."

He said nothing, but his eyes gleamed with interest and something else as he leaned a bit closer. "Even beasts need to be wary of prey every now and then…" My smile softened against my will when I took in his handsome features. "You never really know what kind of bite they have until it's too late."

Hisoka stared at me with an expression similar to the one he wore when he watched me eat last night for a few moments. Then his smile was back, and let out a hum as he studied me. "Mm, you're going to ripen _deliciously_…" He said, sounding like he couldn't believe his luck. I didn't quite get what he meant, but I didn't have much time to wonder about his fruit fixation when he let go of my undamaged index finger and took hold of my throbbing thumb again.

I grimaced at his touch and the sight of my thumb laying unnaturally against my palm. With a quick snap, he popped it back into place. "Nng!" I couldn't help but grunt out in pain, and then he let me go completely.

I immediately stood up and wiggled my thumb experimentally. It was sore, but back to normal. _He only dislocated it, _I thought, surprised. My chest warmed a bit at the merciful action, and I felt a bit more like myself.

"I want to have our fight now, little Guren~" Hisoka suddenly sang next to me, reminding me that he was still _very _close. I immediately moved a good distance away and eyed him warily. He merely blinked amusedly at me.

"What do you mean? We have to get through the trick tower together…?" I asked, unsure. Was he ready to kill me now? Did he really not care about passing the exams this year?

His vulpine smile widened. "And we will, but we have seventy-two hours to do that. Our fight shouldn't take longer than ten minutes~" So, he _didn't _want to fight to the death. At the moment. "Besides, you owe me~,"

I started at that. "For what?" I asked incredulously.

"For ignoring me earlier, _and _for leaving me so abruptly last night without even a goodbye…" Hisoka put a hand to his chest. "You nearly broke my heart, little Guren~"

Yeah, right. Hisoka couldn't even keep a straight face as he said that; his lips were curling up way too much at the corners of his mouth in mirth to be taken seriously.

Well, if he wasn't going to try to kill me, I didn't really see much harm in it. I shrugged, "Fine. I've been wanting to fight you, anyway." I said without thinking.

"Oh~?" He said, calmly walking towards the middle of the room. Something caught my eye on his wrist and I noticed that he had already slipped on his matching watch. When did he do that?

"Yeah," I answered, and moved so I was across from him on the opposite side of the room. "The first time was a little...quick."

He hummed in agreement and got a faraway look in his eye, most likely remembering nearly choking me to death in the swamp.

I took off my backpack and set it down by the table. I briefly considered grabbing the knife I had hidden with the gun but decided not to. Hopefully, this wouldn't escalate to weapons.

The magician waited patiently while I stretched. I flexed my newly fixed hand and tried to think of the best strategy to take him off guard. I had a bit more room to move here than I did in the slightly smaller bedroom on the blimp, and there was a good chance he would underestimate me.

I took a deep breath and felt my body come alive as the adrenaline started flooding my system. I thought back to my failed attempts last night. _He probably thinks that was the fastest I could move. I can use that to my advantage. _I fell into the boxing stance I'd copied from watching bar brawls and gave Hisoka a small nod, signaling that I was ready.

He didn't move. He just gave me a smile raised his hand palm up, beckoning me closer with his index finger.

Well, alright then. I took one more second to settle my nerves and _dashed _forward.

I didn't run at full speed yet, but I was definitely moving faster than last night. The redhead looked like he was just told that somebody was out for his blood; mildly interested, but not really surprised.

Just as I was within arm's length of him, I disappeared.

Not really, but I moved so fast that to the untrained eye it would look like I had blinked out of thin air. It was a speed that both my brother and I were capable, and but I couldn't manage it for as long as Gon. Not without resetting, anyway.

Hisoka raised a brow as his yellow eyes tracked me without difficulty above him, and I brought my fist down as fast and as hard as I could. He simply sidestepped out of the way, but I used my momentum to spin and axe kick him while I was still airborne.

The magician merely slapped my foot away and hit me in the chin with a jarring palm strike that sent me flying backward ass over teakettle. I caught myself before I could land head first into the hard stone floor and flipped back onto my feet. Damn, I could already feel a bruise forming from the hit.

I dashed forward again, not wanting to give him time to think. I attacked head on this time, throwing a flurry of punches at him as fast as I could, leaving faint after images of my fists. He blocked and evaded them all, that smile never leaving his face. After a few more missed hits, I changed tactics; when he parried my next punch and I quickly twisted my hand and gripped his wrist and tried to pull him towards me.

He didn't budge, but that was what I was counting on. I knew from our encounter at the swamp when I tried to break his arm that it would be like pulling the arm off of a statue. His biceps were nearly the size of my _head _when they flexed, I couldn't overpower that.

I smirked and wrapped both of my arms around the pale limb, using his arm as leverage. He easily held up my body weight and I slammed both my feet towards his unguarded face. He caught my feet with his free hand and turned my position against me; kneeing me between my shoulder blades so hard that the wind was knocked out of me with a wheezing gasp.

Stunned, I let go of his arm. During the second I was falling back to the ground, Hisoka took advantage and hit me with an uppercut. My eyes watered from the pain dealt to my already smarting jaw. _Damn him to hell and back, he hit me there on purpose!_ I bared my teeth in anger and met his elated expression with a determined glare. His eyes confirmed it, he was enjoying my pain.

_Sadistic son of a bitch!_ I swung my feet mid-air and flipped backward enough to grab that arm again, digging my nails in hard enough to break the skin in petty revenge. With gravity on my side this time, I _finally _managed to move him.

As soon as my feet hit the ground I swung the smirking magician over my head, intending to slam him into the ground back first. He effortlessly planted his feet and caught his fall, his body parallel to the ground in an impressive show of balance. He then turned the tables once more, swinging _me _over his head. I braced myself thinking he was going to throw me into the ground like I intended to do to him, but once my face was even with his abdomen, his foot slammed into my face.

I flew through the air and couldn't break my fall this time. I tumbled painfully over the unrelenting floor and slammed into the wall. My nose was definitely bleeding, but it didn't feel broken. Tears gathered against my will from the pain, and I looked at the redhead through slightly blurry eyes.

He calmly lowered his leg and rested the hand that flipped me against his hip. He held up the other one in a grand gesture. He didn't have a scratch on him aside from the bloody crescents on his forearm. "Very good, little Guren~" His voice was still velvety, showing no strain from our battle at all. Shit.

I wiped away the blood dripping from my nose with a shaky hand and got back onto my feet. My blood was pounding in my ears, and a heady feeling was swelling up from deep within me. He's not even trying, and his blows were still devastatingly powerful.

"Mm~...you're putting up much more of a fight than your brother did yesterday," Hisoka said.

The thought of Gon's alteration with Hisoka still put me on edge, and the anger and fear for my twin's life came roaring back. The cool air got even colder as I thought of what I would do to the magician if he harmed Gon again.

Hisoka groaned deep in his throat, yellow eyes raking over my form. "Yes, this is _much _more fun…~"

I narrowed my eyes and pushed off the wall, determined to land a good, _hard _hit.

"Rrraa_**aaagGGHHH!**_" The battle-cry ripped out of my throat, the air getting even colder as I focused on making him bleed.

As I flew across the dark room, I vaguely registered that my voice didn't sound right. In fact, it echoed like Sandy's, only brimming with a harsh ringing that didn't fade away immediately.

Hisoka's smile melted off his face when I advanced, pure shock coloring his features. I don't know what I did to surprise him so much, but I didn't look a gift horse in the mouth. I grinned and plowed my fist into his face, using the teardrop on his cheek as a bullseye.

He didn't do anything, just took the hit and fell straight backward. Something wasn't right about that, but I ignored the feeling and took advantage, following him and cracking my knuckles against his other cheek.

The magician still didn't move or change expression. No, his expression _was_ a bit different now. His lips were still downturned, but his eyes were staring up at me intensely. I punched him again, then paused.

_Why...was he just laying there letting me hit him…?_

I blinked down at him, my victorious grin dying down from confusion. Did he pity me? Or maybe he was toying with me? That bastard!

Enraged at the thought, I leaned over him and slapped my hands roughly on the sides of his face and positioned my thumbs over his eyes. "Are you making fun of me, Hisoka?" I hissed, leaning in so close that some of my hair fell onto his forehead. Gold clashed with garnet. "We'll see who's laughing when I pop those mocking eyes out…" I trailed off when I felt his body twitch underneath me.

His eyes were slightly dilated now, and the only thing showing any life. I lowered my thumbs and tried to calm down, taking in what I had missed before.

He wasn't moving or speaking, because it felt like his body was frozen stiff. In fact, it felt like I was sitting on a corpse, already post rigor mortis. My eyes widened and I quickly looked down at the chest I was sitting on. It wasn't moving. _I couldn't feel him breathe._

Pure fear flooded my system, washing away the anger instantly. "Hisoka?!" My voice came out high pitched and raspy, and my mysteriously sore throat contracted painfully. I quickly shimmied down his body so I could press my ear to his chest, listening for a heartbeat. I let out a sigh of relief when heard it beating loudly.

"Holy shit…" I breathed, feeling lightheaded from the scare. I sat back up and met his gaze again. "Can you breathe okay?" I asked, but only silence was my answer. "Right, you can't move…"

I nibbled at my lip in contemplation and ran my hands down his arms. They were hard as usual, but instead of the slight give his flesh would normally do when pressed, it was stiffer. He really did feel like a corpse. If not for his heartbeat and body warmth, I'd easily believe him to be dead.

"Shit," I repeated, feeling his shoulders through his puffy shirt sleeves. Yup, they're the same. "I didn't mean to do...whatever this is," His neck felt stiff as death, too. God, I hope he didn't kill me when this wore off…or _if_ this wore off. What the hell did I do?! "I don't even know how I did it, though now that I remember, my voice did sound kind of weird a minute ago…"

I stopped feeling Hisoka's frozen body when I saw motion just out of my field of vision. I looked up and saw that he was blinking rapidly like he had dry eye. I smiled faintly at the sight. "Oh good, it's not permanent!"

His golden eyes were still trained on me, and he made a low sound deep in his throat. My brows furrowed. "You know, you shouldn't try to talk while your muscles and joints are all stiff. It'll make it worse...I guess?" I trailed off, uncertain. I ran a hand through my hair, trying to understand this new power of mine. So what, not only can I not die and summon a demonic looking ghost, but I could paralyze people with my voice too?

_What the hell _am _I?_

He only blinked back slowly but didn't try to speak again. I never thought a silent Hisoka would be more unnerving than hearing the skin crawling dulcet tones of his voice, but here we are.

"...You're going to kill me when this wears off, aren't you?"

A slow blink was my only answer, but his eyes were gleaming. "I'd really rather you didn't? It's not like I'm going to kill you while you're like this, you know." His chest was moving more now; he could take deeper breaths. "Pretty please?"

I winced a bit when his left arm flexed jerkily. Shit, he was so going to kill me. I was going to have to fail the exam because as soon as I come back to life, I was going to have to find a way to kill _him_ so nobody else found out.

_I need to kill him now while he's defenseless. This is my only chance to do it with one hundred percent certainty that I'll succeed._

My chest gave a twinge at the thought. I couldn't even handle the thought of _accidentally _killing him, there's no way I could do it intentionally. Especially not like this.

I chuckled to myself and slapped a hand to my forehead. Kill Hisoka, yeah right. I didn't know what the hell I was going to do if he killed me here. I'd be trapped for at least seventy two hours with him to kill me however he pleases, and as many times as he wanted.

I was so screwed.

I ran my hand down my face and gazed down at the slowly reanimating Hisoka. Well, if I couldn't reason with the devil, I might as well try and entice him with a deal.

I situated myself so I was sitting on his chest again and placed my hands on the floor on either side of his head. Hisoka only narrowed his eyes a bit, and his lips twitched a bit at the ends. "How about a deal?" I murmured, smirking down at him. "Once my..._death's voice_...wears off, we have a round two? If I manage to hit you again, you spare my life?"

His lips curled up into a smile. _Oh, you like that, huh? _"You won't even have to worry about getting stiff again, because whatever I did messed my throat up something awful. I don't even think I can shout normally right now." I raised a brow down at the man. "So? Do we have a deal? Blink once for yes, twice for no."

He did neither.

"Ok~ay," He sung, sounding happy as a clam. All the serious and heavy emotions flashing through his eyes were gone, and only excitement and mirth remained.

Eh?

The magician brought his arms up and let the stretch above his head. "Wha- _how long have you been able to move?!" _I hurriedly jumped off of him, face burning. There was no way he was faking the whole time, he was definitely paralyzed!

Hisoka only hummed, smirking up at me. He didn't move an inch, instead looked quite comfortable laying on the cool floor. I glowered down at him. To think I was _worried _about this asshole!

"You've surprised me yet again, little Guren~," He said, and elegantly flipped up to his feet. I hurriedly jumped away from him, trepidation trickling through my veins when I felt my skin prickle from something I couldn't see.

"Your potential is _intoxicating_…~" He took slow, deliberate steps towards me.

I brought my fists back up in front of my face, and couldn't help but stare transfixed at the intimidating image that was Hisoka. Even the way he walked was predatory. His hips swayed almost seductively and his steady footsteps sounded like a countdown to my death.

_God_, how could someone be so _beautiful? _

I swallowed and felt my face get hot again. _Wait, what?_ _WHAT?!_

"Now, it's time for round two, Gu~ren," His bloodlust was emanating now, making the air thicker with his intent. Hisoka licked his lips slowly, golden eyes glaring hungrily through the darkness of the room.

The beast had come out to play.

I barely saw him coming. One second, he was a few feet away and then his fist was hurtling towards my face, I abandoned my stance to duck; he'd break through my guard easily if I tried to block. My eyes widened when I heard the distinct sound of cracks forming in the brick wall.

_Holy shit!_

I weaved and rolled, frantically dodging his relentless hits. The magician followed me around the room in a dance as old as time, and he was wearing me down quickly. I already used up a bunch of stamina at the beginning of our fight, and my throat hurt with every breath I took. I had to hit him if I wanted to live, but I didn't know if I could do anything against him when he was putting actual _effort_ in.

Then, the fox finally caught the rabbit.

He feigned a strike at my face and caught me unaware with a leg sweep. I hit the ground hard, and barely brought my arms up in time block a brutal stomp as Hisoka _flipped _out of sweep and attempted to land on top of me like last night.

My arm couldn't hold his weight and swore I could feel the bones bending painfully in my arms as he made impact. I let out a groan as my body bounced off the floor and landed a couple of steps away on my back.

Hisoka didn't give me any time to recover and buried his fist into my gut.

I convulsed in pain and a cry left my lips, ravaging my throat. The man didn't remove his hand, only unclenched it to lay flat on the bruised area, pressing down lightly as he sat down on my thighs to straddle me. My back arched at the agonizing action, insides burning. Jesus, it felt like he made my organs explode.

"_Oh..._you squirm so beautifully, _little Guren~_," Hisoka cooed, and leaned down to nip my ear, drawing blood. I cringed as he lapped up the blood. "Hmm, what's wrong~? Don't tell me that's all the fight you're going to give me…?"

"_Fuck. You," _I choked out and began to struggle through the pain, and tried to headbutt him. He casually leaned back to sit up straight, as if it had been his intention all along. I quickly sat up with him and aimed a punch at his face. He twitched his head to the side so that my fist _just _whispered past his skin, and then grabbed both my forearms and forced me back down with a slam.

He hummed and leaned over so his face was hovering over mine. "_Mmm...don't_ tempt _me, Guren~,"_ He said lowly, voice like velvet as his eyes raked over my face.

I paused in my struggles, confused. Huh? Don't tempt him to...what? Kill me?

His smile widened at my blank stare. "I kind of liked being completely at your mercy," His golden gaze suddenly got more intense, and my stomach fluttered uncomfortably. "But this is _so much better…~_" I don't understand what was happening right now, but I don't think I like it.

I pushed away my uneasiness and glared, black sand pouring out from my shoulders to gather nearby. Unaware of what was happening just a couple feet away, Hisoka didn't take his eyes off me, his breathing getting faster.

The magician leaned closer and slowly licked his lips, looking at me in a way that was eerily similar to Buhara when he took in my dish during the second phase. Then, I felt emotions that weren't my own flare up and gave him a grin reminiscent to a shark.

He barely had time to blink at my sudden change in expression before he was struck across the face by Sandy's fist. Hisoka flew off me and slammed into a wall, dust forming from the force of impact.

I got to my feet slowly, holding my still hurting stomach. Sandy moved so that he was standing partially in front of me, limbs hanging loosely by his sides. His head moved as he seemingly took in our surroundings, or what little there was.

My eyes, however, stayed fixed on Hisoka, who was now getting to his feet, looking pleasantly surprised. He had a cut on his brow that bled freely.

"What…is _this?" _Hisoka said in a breathy tone, golden orbs riveted on Sandy. Huh, if he could see him, that means Sandy must have had some pretty strong intent directed at the man when he hit him. "Oh, little Guren~," Hisoka groaned, his voice echoing around the small room and making the hair on my arms stand up. "You're just _full _of surprises, aren't you~?"

The redhead stood up to his full height and stared hungrily at both Sandy and I, his eyes studying the former curiously as he continued to ignore the man in favor of looking at the glowing instruction screen. I let out a breath and thought about how to do this.

There was no way that Hisoka was going to hold back as much as I _knew _he had been against me now, and with how fickle Sandy was being right now, I doubted he could protect me quicker than the jester could reach me. I needed to play this safe and-

_I couldn't breathe._

Hisoka's bloodlust permeated the air as it did in the swamp, his excitement obvious. I gasped for air, regretting my decision to forgo grabbing my knife now.

A card appeared in his hand and I knew I wouldn't be able to evade it. Then suddenly I didn't have to.

Feeling my sudden panic and distress, Sandy suddenly bounded towards Hisoka, claws spread.

The evil magician's face lit up with glee and then there were cards flying at Sandy. I steeled myself and ran at a much slower pace, belly still burning from the hit earlier. Three out of five cards hit their mark, but Sandy didn't even acknowledge the damage as it swung at the man. He made him work harder to evade than I did, with his long reach and deadly talons.

I saw Hisoka's eyes sharpen calculatingly at the deep gouge marks Sandy left in the wall, and aimed a powerful kick at the beings 'weak' middle. The force of the kick actually made Sandy skid back a couple of feet, but didn't damage him.

Then I was there. I was slower than before, but I still forced Hisoka to pay attention to me, attacking him with a flurry of punches. His expression didn't change, he just blocked my hits as he did before. I suddenly dropped to the ground in a low squat and Sandy's arm flew through the space where my head was a moment ago and I attempted to kick out his knees.

Hisoka _still _managed to evade our attacks with a spectacular barrel roll and pushed off the wall to gain some distance. I felt a sharp pain across my bicep and saw a fresh cut that hadn't been there a second ago. I grit my teeth at the additional sting and realized Hisoka managed to get me with a card on his way.

I turned around and saw him standing in the middle of the room again, licking up my blood off the card similar to how he ate my ice cream last night. His eyes didn't leave mine as he did so, also like last night.

My breath caught at the sight and I floundered for a moment. Why was it so hot in here all of a sudden?

Sandy didn't notice my distraction, and hefted me up by the back of my vest and chucked me at the magician.

I flew towards him, not really sure how this was a good plan. _Really, Sandy?!_

I heard the black ghost kick off the ground behind me and just focused on distracting Hisoka. Surely Sandy had something in mind. He was a part of _me _after all.

Hisoka looked amused at our team attack, and I braced myself for what I was about to do. I needed to catch him off guard somehow; hopefully, this worked.

His foot shot out to kick me before I could swing at him, and I saw my chance. I opened my guard and let his foot connect with my already hurting abdomen. I felt something well up in my throat, excruciating pain burning my guts. I quickly grabbed his leg, holding on with all my strength. He blinked at me in confusion, and that moment of forgetfulness was what we needed.

Sandy dived down from the ceiling towards the magician, and he quickly bent to dodge the lethal swipe; but not quick enough. I got to see Hisoka's smile fade away into shock for a second time when Sandy's sharp claws sliced into his right shoulder, staining the white material red with two deep claw marks.

He stumbled away with me still hanging onto one of his legs like a monkey, but Sandy lunged at him again with a punch this time. The redhead was forced to block, and I waited for the telltale snap of his arm breaking from the blow while trying to bite into his thigh through his baggy pants.

Only the sound never came, but instead, he countered and grabbed Sandy's arm in a lock-hold and then brought an elbow down on the limb, while somehow sending me flying away with a mighty sweep of his leg.

I rolled to a stop in the middle of the room and painfully coughed. Red dripped from my mouth and I scrambled back up with haste only to freeze in shock.

Hisoka not only withstood a direct hit from the black ghost but _destroyed his arm. Permanently._

Sandy was as shocked as me, and he stared at where his limb used to be. He'd been damaged before of course, by wild animals claws and sword slashes from when he fought and killed that pirate years ago, but they had always regenerated instantly.

_Why…? How did…?_

Hisoka broke us out of our shock when his fist suddenly burst out of Sandy's back, right where his heart would be if he were a human. I swallowed and held in a breath of relief when it didn't make him go away.

"Hm, so that won't kill it? Interesting~" The magician only looked like he was getting more riled up, and suddenly there were three cards sticking out of Sandy's face.

"Quick, come back!" I said frantically, only to cough immediately after from speaking too loud. Shit, I was nearing my limit.

Thankfully, the ghost heeded my call and jumped back so that he was next to me. I watched Hisoka warily, but he didn't follow, only stared at us with a fascinated expression. He seemed to have calmed down a bit, although his body was still quivering; most likely restraining himself from snapping and going all out.

I glanced at Sandy who was now facing me and saw that the hole had yet to regenerate, along with his missing arm. Why didn't they reform? What was it about Hisoka's hits that made the difference? Was he really just _that _strong?

I winced a bit when I rubbed my tender belly. Yeah, he was.

I eyed the cards still sticking out of his head in thought. As if reading my mind, Sandy suddenly dropped down to sit on the floor, long legs spread to either side of me. I shot another look to Hisoka only to find him still staring at us. He did look suspiciously closer though. I went back to the task at hand and quickly pulled the cards out of Sandy's face.

I let out a sigh of relief when the cuts closed like normal. My relief was short lived when a smooth voice said _right by my ear, _"Well, look at that. So it _can _regenerate~"

I flinched away and saw Hisoka bent at the waist staring at Sandy with that same fascinated look, before looking to me. "What an interesting abilities you have~"

Before I even had to command anything, Sandy shot a fist out at the man. Hisoka didn't even attempt to dodge, and when the attack hit, he just vanished into mist.

My eyes widened at the familiar technique and then I heard a solid _thud _behind me. I whirled around, crouched in a defensive position and saw Hisoka's foot where Sandy's head used to be.

Finally, my friend was forced to disperse, black ribbons dissolving into clouds of sand, and then into nothing.

_Shit..._I glared up at the smiling magician as he calmly lowered his foot back to the ground. I idly considered jumping at the smug bastard for another round, but knew it was hopeless. My pain tolerance was pushing its limits, and so was my body.

I had to hope Sandy and I gave him a good enough fight for now, and he wouldn't kill me.

"Not bad, little Guren. You managed to wound me more than I thought~" Hisoka complimented, still smiling down at me. I huffed and slowly got to my feet, fairly certain the fight was done.

"Well, have you had enough now? Because I sure as hell did." I grimaced at the pain still flaring up in my stomach. I'm really glad I could still call out Sandy a couple of times today because I didn't think I would be able to do much right now.

"Mm...yes and no," The magician admitted, simply watching me. I walked over to where I'd tossed my bag and crouched down onto my haunches so I could dig out my canteen. That was the toughest fight I'd ever been in, and I didn't realize until the adrenaline died down just how parched I was.

"So, how long have you been able to make that thing~?" Hisoka inquired, and I turned mid-drink to see his golden eyes still fixed on me. He was looking at me with even more interest than before, and that small part of me that I wished would just _die _already was bursting with happiness. The rational part, however, realized the danger of such interest.

I parried his question with one of my own. "How do you make your cards so sharp?"

I gave him a smirk when he did nothing but smile wider, but his eyes narrowed further in annoyance. _Yeah, that's right. Sucks to be denied, doesn't it?_

After pushing my canteen back into my bag, I slipped it back on and strode towards the door. "Well, we should head into the tower. Who knows what they have set up to slow us down." I blinked and suddenly I walked face first into Hisoka's abdomen. I glared up at him and rubbed my sore nose, but he merely gave his fake little smile.

I huffed in frustration and took a quick step back, my nose still burning from close exposure to his sweet scent. "_What?"_

His smile stretched into his usual devilish one. "Just making sure my little partner is well. You got yourself pretty roughed up~" He said, sounding as if it were _my _idea to fight all along. I closed my eyes and counted to ten before answering.

"You know what your problem is?" I asked, giving Hisoka an unamused stare.

The jester's foxy smile didn't waver. He only bent at the waist so that we were eye to eye. "_Oh~?_ Do tell~" He purred, a dangerous edge in his tone.

I ignored it, too tired right now to even think about being cautious. "You're really pretty, so no one ever told you to just shut the hell up."

Hisoka blinked incredulously like I just yawningly said I was actually an old hag. My half-lidded eyes didn't leave his gaze, and I watched him study me like I was the most complex equation he'd come across, and if he solved it, something better than satisfaction would be his reward.

After a few seconds of silence, Hisoka's demeanor finally shifted back into his usual slick expression. Then he did something that made me blink in surprise.

He started to laugh.

It started as a snicker, but then grew into shoulder-shaking laughter. He covered his eyes with a hand as deep chuckles started to get higher. I could only gawk at him, wondering how such an adorable laugh could come from such a cold, malicious person.

I felt my cheeks get warm at the giggles assaulting my ears and didn't know what to do. Why did this man always catch me off guard?

Abruptly, his giggles tapered off, and he peeked a golden eye through his fingers to meet my wide ones. I froze, like a mouse in the sights of a snake.

_"Mmm...~"_ He suddenly moaned deep in his throat, and licked his lips.

His hand was suddenly on my neck, gripping firmly. I whined at the contact. My poor throat can't take much more abuse! He wasn't cutting off my airway, but if he applied any more pressure, he would be. Feeling his sharp nails dig into my skin snapped me out of my trance, and I quickly gripped his wrist.

"You think I'm pretty, _Gur-en~_?" Hisoka was close, too close. I could see myself reflected in his golden orbs.

I rolled my eyes once I registered what he said. _Really?_ That's what he got from that? And please, like he didn't already know. Attractive people _know_ that they're attractive, this isn't some tv drama.

_"Just shut the hell up!"_ I said forcefully, ignoring my still flushed cheeks.

Instead of reacting negatively like I thought he would, he merely traced the skin of my nape with a nail, causing goosebumps to raise from the sensation.

Then Hisoka did something so unexpected that my brain shut down altogether.

Our eyes stayed locked. His were cool and half-lidded, mine were uncomprehending and wide. I felt his smile widen as he increased the pressure, and his nose lightly bumped mine. His already wetted lips pleasantly contrasted against my dry ones. I felt my entire face get even hotter the longer he kissed me, especially my ears. If my face got any more heated, I was sure I would give Hisoka singed lips.

Finally, he pulled away with an exaggerated smacking sound. He stood up to his full height, looking very pleased with himself. I could only gawp up at him, a weird clicking sound coming from the back of my throat.

Finally, I choked out "W-w-what...you...h-huh?"

The magician just gave me his signature vulpine smile and said, "I think you're pretty too~" And then he just walked away, leaving me to stare after him as he disappeared into the darkened corridor.

**XXX**

**Welp.**

**To clear things up, I'm writing Guren like a borderline sociopath on purpose, because really, finding out you're immortal as a little kid and continuously ****_killing yourself _****just to fix boo-boos or minor sickness is bound to fuck up your mental state. She obviously wants to be normal, but she makes mistakes here and there, like with the guy in the second phase. **

**I'm not planning on making her like Hisoka, where she kills because she likes it, but she definitely doesn't have a problem with taking a life. Another reason why being around Hisoka is worse for her, especially when she's having a self-crisis. **

**The whole story won't be so back and forth with this personality crisis though, so don't worry. **

**Let me know if you like it, and buckle up, because it's gonna get worse from here (because...Hisoka)**

**Ja Ne.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thank you for the reviews and dms y'all! I love that you guys like this! Thanks for the support it makes me feel a little better for writing all this shit lol.**

**Remember when I warned you that it gets worse? That starts now. I threw in a little bit of Hisoka's POV in the beginning, sorry if he's ooc. Also, I've been writing from my phone all week since I've been so busy at work or just away from my laptop so if there's mistakes that'll be why.**

**Here's chapter 4!**

**XXX**

**(Hisoka)**

My lips drew up into a smirk when I felt Guren's eyes on me again. She was such a good girl. A sweet girl.

An interesting girl.

I had been seriously considering breaking every one of her little fingers when she gazed at me with those defiant eyes, rubies burning hotter than the flames of hell. Her snub after vacating the airship had me just _itching_ to make her bleed. There wasn't much that irritated me more than being ignored, and _Guren_ intentionally ignoring me gave me the urge to murder every other person present so she didn't have a _choice _but to acknowledge me.

She spoke with such affection and ease when I had followed her down into the tower that it was obvious that she thought I was Gon. She _really _needed to improve her awareness. Once I was right behind her, I read the screen over her head as she continued to talk.

Even when bent over the table and completely vulnerable she was fearless. Her stubborn will to fight me even when helpless was so _attractive_. I ached to see what kind of face she'd make if I were to actually take a bite out of her.

That's when I realized I needed to fight her _now_, to truly grasp her current aptitude. I knew she had more to offer than the weak attempts last night, and if I put it off any longer, I wouldn't be able to control myself enough to hold back.

So, in the end, I only dislocated her thumb, so it wouldn't hinder her too much when we play. I couldn't let her off _too _easy, the little kitten needed to learn how to pick her fights before she hissed and spat at someone who wouldn't be as merciful as me and tore out her throat. I won't allow someone else to break _my _toys.

Then she bared her teeth in a pleasant _smile, _looking like I told her a gut-busting joke rather than a thinly veiled threat on her life. I wanted to cut open her mouth and make it even bigger so I could see that grin all the time.

It went well with her ruby eyes that just _gleamed _with possible madness. I honestly couldn't understand the appeal of Kurta eyes when _these _beauties existed. Glowing scarlet couldn't compare to _Guren's_ crimson orbs.

As she kindly warned me about underestimating her bite, I considered plucking them out once I eventually killed her so I could look at them forever after she was gone. I'd be doing her a kindness, really. Having her eyes would prevent her memory from fading completely after death; a kindness I don't ever consider with my other toys, both intact and broken.

Even while we fought she was eye-catching. She was just so interesting, with her conflicting thoughts plain on her face. She attacked with a ferocious desire to make me bleed, her intent making up for her sloppy form. She obviously had no formal training, most likely self-taught. Her brother had been the same, but Guren was wilder and fought dirtier. Her bloodlust shining in her eyes and fueling her hits.

I was astounded when she unknowingly used Hatsu. She was obviously unaware of Nen; she wouldn't be so dumbfounded about my Shu enhanced cards if she knew. Such a powerful ability, able to paralyze the joints and muscles with just her voice. It had taken quite a toll on her throat by the sound of it, but with training…

I brought a hand up to my mouth and covered it, biting down on my ring finger to hold back a moan. Guren had _so _much potential. Just the _thought _of killing her after she's mastered her Nen made my dick twitch in my pants.

Yes, she did _much_ better than I'd expected. I made sure to reward her with a few lovetaps that she'll feel for days. I know that I'll be enjoying the wounds she lovingly gave me. If she continued to spoil me with her affections like this, I'll end up getting a taste of her after all.

In fact, Guren might just let me before long.

I knew attraction when I saw it, even if she didn't. I'd had my suspicions before, but her desperate concern that she'd killed me gave her away. She didn't even think to check my heartrate on my watch, meaning she forgot about the exam entirely. It was very amusing, and a pleasant turn of events. Someone being attracted to me even after I attempted to kill them was...a first. But not unwelcome.

I was reminded of apples when I kissed her. It was a simple peck really, but even then I could taste how sweet she was. Her eyes especially resembled the fruit up close and personal; a vibrant red with darker specks around her irises.

_Delicious..._

**XXX**

This was the most uncomfortable silence of my life.

I followed Hisoka through the darkened corridor, making sure to be at least a couple arm lengths away at all times. My face had finally cooled down, but now I felt even more off balance around him then I did before. My body felt like one big bruise, with cuts and abrasions everywhere, and I was dead tired. My stomach felt especially tender from all the abuse it took, and my chin constantly throbbed. It probably looked black and blue.

He hasn't said a word since he called me pretty, seconds after _kissing me._

My first kiss, stolen by _Hisoka._ I was pissed off. Livid. How dare he?! I just _knew _that he only did it as a joke, probably petty revenge for mouthing off to him so much. Still, what kind of adult just goes around kissing girls half his age for the hell of it? At least, I _think _I'm half his age. He looked older than a teenager, that's for sure.

...Actually, I shouldn't even be surprised. The magician obviously didn't care about age or gender when picking victims, why would he care about who he kissed?

I licked my lips for the twentieth time since leaving the start point. I couldn't help but keep thinking about it. It had felt really nice. It wasn't how I'd imagined it since I always thought that my first kiss would be with a boy my own age. When I first saw Kurapika, I had caught myself thinking about what kissing him would be like. He was such a cute boy, even if he was a little older than me.

Now I wished I had at least _tried _to steal a kiss from his soft, dainty looking lips. All I could imagine now was cool, pouty ones that smirked against my own.

"Looks like we've reached our first obstacle~" Hisoka suddenly said, jolting me out of my thoughts. I quickly moved to stand next to him and blinked.

The floor in front of was simply gone, and a quick look down showed hundreds of deadly spikes at the very bottom. To make matters worse, there were large, swinging axes that made simply jumping over suicide, and if you got past those, the flamethrowers would finish the job. I didn't even know if I could make the jump with a running start.

"Someone's been playing too many video games…" I muttered, looking at our 'obstacle' in disbelief. Really, who thought of this?

Hisoka hummed next to me in agreement, not looking worried in the least. Well, he might not be, but _I _am. I could barely walk faster than a stroll right now, how the hell was I going to get to the other side?

Then, a new voice addressed us from above, making us look up. Only a speaker greeted us. "For this obstacle, only one of you is allowed to cross to the other side. Once you make it there, you'll find a lever that shuts off all traps and clears a pathway for your partner. You'll fail if you both can't get through. Good luck."

Okay, I don't know who that guy is, but I could tell he was a sadist just by listening to him. Maybe my constant proximity to the Lord of Sadists gave me a sixth sense.

"Would you like to do the honors, little Guren, or should I~?" His Highness himself asked.

I gave him a dry look. "Go for it."

Hisoka pouted, drawing even more attention to his lips. "You're not even a little bit concerned? Those death traps could really hurt me, you know~"

"Yeah right, you could probably get through that blindfolded and come out without a scratch." I countered, eyes glued to his lips. Really, they looked like they belonged on a seductress. All he needed was to swap out the jester makeup for lipstick and mascara. Actually, he didn't even need mascara, his lashes were long and thick without it. Maybe eyeliner?

His lips stretched back into his customary smirk. "Aw~ You say the sweetest things~," He cooed, reaching down to pinch my cheek.

I slapped his hand away before it could make contact. "Leave my face alone, you evil magician. It hurts enough as is." I said irritably.

"Would you like me to kiss it better~?" Hisoka asked innocently.

My cheeks immediately flushed with heat and I took a hasty step back. "N-no!" _Once was enough!_

The redhead's smile fell flat into a genuine-looking pout. "Oh? That's a shame…~"

I squinted at him suspiciously. Was he being serious? "Nobody's kissed my ouchies in _years, _Hisoka. It's not like it really gets rid of pain, anyway." I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh my, you poor thing. They didn't do a very good job then~" He chuckled, eyes shining mischievously.

"Look, will please you just do it already? I want to get to the bottom of the tower quickly, so I can rest!"

"Okay~." The magician sang, giving me a pleasant smile.

We stared at each other.

My brow twitched when he just continued to stand there smiling down at me. After a couple of more seconds of _nothing happening_, I finally said, "Well? We're kind of on a time limit, Hisoka."

"Give me a kiss~."

I gave him a blank look, not quite sure I heard him right. "What?"

His cunning smirk slid back onto his face as he took a step closer to me. My leg tensed to take another step back, but I refrained. He had to be joking. There was no way he actually expected me to kiss him!

"If you want me to do it, you have to give me a kiss~." He purred, pointing a nail at his cheek. A closer look showed bruising starting to form near the corner of his mouth, and his blue teardrop was slightly scuffed at the bottom. "Right here…~"

I bit my lip and fought another blush. He really _was _doing this just to tease me! Damn him! I gave him a glare and turned pointedly towards the pit of death. If he was going to be like that, then I would just do this myself.

"Feeling up to it now, kitten~?" He asked mockingly, making me silently fume.

"I already told you, _don't _call me that." I snapped, back up a few steps from the edge to get a running start. I eyed the swinging axes and idly considered trying to grab at one of the handles to swing the rest of the way. Yeah, that might work…

"You're so _grumpy_, little Guren~," Hisoka said with mirth. "It sounds like you need another dose of affection~!"

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. This was going to be our whole trip through the tower, wasn't it? He was going to harass and tease me until he drove me insane. I opened my eyes and stared determinedly at the lever on the other side of the pit. _Just another reason to get through this as fast as possible._

I took off as fast as I could, hoping to time my jump so I completely bypassed the first two axes and grab the third, using my momentum to swing around the handle and shoot past the last axe, and hopefully avoid the worst of the flame-

Something tripped me.

I let out a surprised squeak as I tumbled forward towards the pit head first. I tried to stop myself from flying over the edge, but I was going to fast. I stared with wide eyes at the spikes just a few feet away from my face as I plunged into the pit and oh god this was going to suck-

Something scratched my back as I was jerked to a halt, my lower half still on solid ground. I felt a tug at my shorts as I was slowly lifted up and out of the pit and set down so I was completely on solid ground.

A sigh of relief escaped me and I set my head against my forearms. "Thanks…" I said as I felt Hisoka let go of my waistband.

"That could have ended badly…~" He sang, brushing his hand over my back. It would have felt consoling if it had been anyone else. "You're a stubborn little apple, aren't you~?"

Now he's calling me a fruit again? While him calling me kitten sounded mocking, him calling me apple just sounded...like he saw me as something to eat. The thought made a shiver run down my spine. In a way, I will be feeding him when he eventually kills me. I'll be feeding his bloodlust.

Even so, I refrained from commenting on the new random nickname. Creepy or not, I much preferred that to being called kitten. "It wasn't my fault, my foot got caught on something," I said, finally lifting my head up to search the ground behind me for any uneven stones. I startled at seeing Hisoka crouched so close to me.

"It looked like your leg gave out," he commented, giving me a sly grin. "My, my; you must really be worn out. Did I play with you a little too rough~?"

I pouted in dismay and looked at the ground again. I could have sworn I felt my boot catch on something...Maybe I was more tired than I thought?

I sighed and decided that Hisoka's price for letting him to do all the work wasn't so bad after all. It wasn't like it was on the lips, anyway.

He raised a brow in question when I got up and turned to face him, grabbing his shoulders. With him crouched, his head came up to the bottom of my sternum when I stood at full height. I set my hands on his shoulders and leaned down to give his bruised cheek a chaste kiss.

Hisoka being Hisoka, couldn't even stay still and let me do that. He turned his head as I drew near his face, and I ended up kissing the corner of his mouth instead of his cheek. I quickly drew back after a second of contact, trying not to outright glare at the man. "There," I stated, removing my hands from his shoulders and stepping around him. "Will you _please _go and clear the way for us now?"

"Already done~!"

"What?!" I whirled around and stared in awe at the suddenly vacant corridor. Not a single axe or flamethrower in sight, and the pit of spikes was a harmless stone floor once again. My eyes shot towards the lever and saw that it was indeed pulled down, proof that Hisoka had somehow cleared the obstacle without me knowing or magically pulled the lever from here.

"What? But, y-you didn't-"

Hisoka let out a low chuckle and walked around me, heading down the hall. "Now, what did I tell you~?" He turned his head to look down at me from over his shoulder, and held his slender index finger in front of his lips. "A magician never reveals his secrets~"

I gaped at his retreating back, still shocked that he was able to clear the obstacle of death without even moving a muscle. I followed behind him dumbly, still trying to figure out how the hell he did that. It was almost enough to distract me from the kiss.

**XXX**

This was how the majority of our journey through the tower went. Hisoka agreed to do the trials for no further exchange of kisses, thankfully. He didn't tease me as much as I thought he would about it either, to my relief.

He _did _make sure to walk behind most of the time, which I found odd. I could of sworn he was staring at me, but every time I tried to catch him, his eyes would be closed or focused on shuffling his cards.

It was infuriating.

With every floor we cleared, there was at least one challenge set up for us. No living soul stood against us yet, nor did the voice speak to us again. Most of our instructions were on more glowing screens, and the obstacles varied. There were a few that were guessing games, asking us to pick a door or a vial to drink. One vial was poison, one doorway would lead us back up the tower instead of down.

Thankfully, no more challenges so far required only one person to complete for both to pass like the first one. It only took us several hours to clear over dozens of trials before we came across something new.

Hisoka and I just got through another guessing game when we came across the first inhabitants of Trick Tower. The room we entered was much larger than any we'd seen yet, and had an decent sized arena in the middle. We paused just outside of the doorway, and observed the four people wearing tattered hooded robes standing near the doorway on the opposite side of the arena. I was confused to see them with heavy shackles on their wrists.

One of the men mumbled something, and suddenly their shackles fell to the floor, releasing them. I tilted my head when two of the four removed their cloaks, revealing their faces. One man looked middle aged with shaggy graying hair, while the other barely looked older than Kurapika. He was almost as tall as Hisoka, wore glasses and had short, curly black hair. The older man was stocky and muscled, while the other was lean, reminding me of Leorio's build.

For the second time, the sadist graced us with his voice. "Listen up, participants. The men standing before you are all prisoners of Trick Tower." _Prisoners? _"Also, they've been hired as temporary examiners by the Selection Committee. In order to proceed further, you will have to fight them."

"Oh~?" Hisoka said, interest peaked. I was still tired, but this should be a cakewalk for us. Even if one gave me trouble, I could still bring out Sandy a couple times today. Honestly, I _was _a little bored of just letting Hisoka do all the work until now. It had been worth it though, for at least my throat and stomach weren't hurting as bad anymore. I felt confident that I could hold my own in a fight again.

"You'll both be fighting two prisoners separately in an anything goes fight. There will be no draws or forfeits for these battles. You win the round when your opponent is dead."

I frowned a bit at that. I understood that they were prisoners who probably did something to deserve being trapped here, but to force us to fight to the death just for an exam? What if Gon had to do something like this in here…

The older man in the group then called out, "For every minute our fights last, we get a year off of our sentences. You have the choice on whether or not to fight us one on one or two at once."

"So, chances are they plan take their time fighting us," I murmured to the man besides me, going over the pros and cons of just taking on two at once or fighting one at a time.

One of the cloaked figures laughed suddenly and took off his cloak as well, revealing a slender man with fair brown hair that brushed his shoulders and angry, mocking eyes. The man beside him followed suit and was revealed to be another man who looked to be in his teens, only this one looked like he belonged in an insane asylum instead of a simple prison. He had wide eyes and wild hair and a big, twisted grin on his youthful face. The bags under his eyes made him look even creepier.

The angry man who laughed then sneered at us, or specifically, Hisoka. "Please, that clown looks like he takes on two men at once as a typical Saturday night." His eyes then snapped over to me. "And the kid looks weak and fucked up already. Hey, little girl! Fight me, and I'll make sure to put you out of your misery painlessly!"

I raised a brow, unfazed. "I can't promise the same for you." _Who was he calling weak? I fought Hisoka and _lived. _Never mind if he was being serious or not, I still found that to be an accomplishment. _I knew this guy won't be able to say the same.

That made his cocky smirk fall into a glare, the expression looking at home on his face. "What'd you say, you little bitch?!"

The tallest teen then spoke up, his voice soft but slightly scratchy, like he wasn't used to talking much. "I'd like to fight the girl first, actually. She reminds me of my sister…" He said, getting a faraway look in his eyes.

I would have thought that was kind of sweet...if we weren't talking about a fight to the death. There must of been something else going on that I didn't know about, because the two older men leaned slightly away from him after he said that and gave him disgusted looks.

The crazy teen let out a high pitched giggle, the sound grating on my ears. "Well, I don't mind fighting the clown! I like clowns, they never fail to make me laugh!" He paused suddenly, and held his chin and stared up at the ceiling in thought. "On the other hand, I could probably play with the other one for longer and reduce our prison time...yeah, I'll do that!" He then started to move his hips side to side in a weird dance, pointed his fingers at me and giving me what he probably thought was a happy grin. "Yes, yes, I want to rip out your hair and see how it looks on me~" He sang, making me cringe. What the hell.

"I'd be fine with fighting the girl, too." The oldest man said, and at this point I was just feeling exasperated. Really? This was just getting stupid. "I like kids. They don't leave behind that much of a mess."

I let out a loud sigh and looked up at the magician beside me, locking gazes with him. He still wore his customary smile, but I could tell by the look in his eye that he was as amused as I was. "You know, when I left home, my auntie warned me that boys might fight for my attention, but this isn't really what I had in mind."

Hisoka's eyes lit up a bit at that, his humor coming back at my statement. "I have to admit, I'm feeling a little left out~."

I remembered how irritated he was at being ignored earlier, and felt a little sorry for the two he ended up fighting. "By the sound of it, there's no reason to be jealous." I retorted, cringing again when the crazy kids lyrics got more gore filled. God, I hoped they weren't allowed weapons. I couldn't see how he could skin me without a blade, and I didn't want to give him the chance. "...Since you've been doing most of the work this whole phase, I'll be nice and give you the crazy guy."

"Oh, Guren, you shouldn't have~," The redhead said, running a hand through my hair. I leaned my head away when he scraped my scalp with his nails. Jeez, it wouldn't kill him to be a little gentle from time to time. "I suppose I'll fight him and whoever you leave left for me~"

I pried his hand off of my head and gave him a confused look. "You don't want to pick one?"

The magician shrugged, his smile dropping as he looked at the four prisoners. "They don't look like much fun either way, so it doesn't really matter to me."

Huh. Well, okay then.

The angry one started getting red in the face. "The fuck you freaks say-?!"

The older one cut him off, also looking annoyed. "The trial starts now. One of you choose your opponent and we'll get started."

I gave Hisoka a light pat on the arm and took a step forward. "I'll start I guess. I choose…" I studied each man carefully, trying to decide who would go down the easiest. Crazy guy was out, I didn't really want to fight the other teen either. The look he was giving me creeped me out almost as bad as the freaky guy.

"...you." I said, pointing towards the oldest man. He nodded, and motioned for the others to vacate the floor. A walkway suddenly moved out from the doorways and towards the arena, creating a path. "Well, I'll be back in a bit." I said over my shoulder, walking to join my opponent.

"Have fun~" Hisoka said silkily.

I took a deep breath and quickly stretched out my legs while the old man took his spot on the other side of the arena. I felt confident that I could outspeed him and take him out without needing Sandy. He was confident that he could win, so that gave me an edge, just like when I fought Hisoka.

_Only this time, I'm not fighting a monster wearing human skin. Just a bad human. _

I could win.

I didn't hear anyone say start, but the man rushed me as if they did. He was faster than I thought he'd be, but nothing too worrisome. He aimed a hit at my legs but I easily jumped up to avoid him, farther than he could reach. He was probably hoping to make me immobile by breaking me legs.

As I descended, I coiled my legs, ready to maximise the damage of my kick. He was probably going to block, not thinking I would do much damage. He had arms thicker than Hisoka, so I might not be able to break any bones, but that wasn't my intention anyway. It would be a nice bonus, though.

As predicted, he brought his arms up to block, a smirk on his face. I grinned and _slammed _my feet down, heart pounding as his condescending expression pinched into a pained one. Before he could overcome the shock, I kicked off to land behind him. He stumbled a bit and quickly turned around, only to have my boot in his face this time.

He shouted in pain, blood and a few teeth flying from the impact. I heard the other prisoners shouting, but didn't bother trying to make out their words. My focus was dedicated to pondering on the best method to breaking my opponents thick neck. I landed once again and couldn't help but feel a little bit of satisfaction at the fear in the older man's eyes.

I tilted my head when he quickly backpedaled away from me. "What's the matter? I thought you like kids?" I called after him, feigning confusion. He covered his mouth with shaking hands and stopped just a few feet away from the edge near the platform where Hisoka was patiently waiting. I rocked back and forth on my heels, eyeing the distance. Yeah, that should do it.

I dashed towards him again, and by the time he registered that I was on the attack again, I had already dug a foot into his gut, the force taking him off his feet. He tried to grab my leg, but missed. I calmly walked back to where I started, the man's terrified scream echoing throughout the room as he fell to his death.

I looked over at the stunned faces of the remaining prisoners. "Okay, I want to fight the tall one next." I announced, pointing to the teen with curly hair.

Silence was my answer, and I could practically taste their apprehension in the air. _Not so weak looking now, am I?_

Suddenly, a soft smile bloomed on the teens face, looking at me with familiarity that we certainly didn't have. I was thrown off by it, and felt a bit uneasy.

He stood across from me with a hand in his pocket, staring at me with that uncomfortably soft smile still on his face. I brought my fists up and took a step back, thinking about how to do this. He knew I was fast now, so he wouldn't be taken off guard from that like the other one. He looked to be almost as tall as Hisoka, so maybe if I ran at him in a feint and-

"What's your name?"

My train of thought was broken when the teen spoke, still not moving from his spot. My name? "What's the point of knowing?" I asked, raising a brow.

He chuckled, not looking upset. "My name is Kenta. I only wish to know who I'm fighting, dear."

I considered that. Well, I guess there's no harm in that… "Guren." I answered shortly, ready to just fight and get this over with already.

"Guren…how fitting…" He said lowly, his smile stretching so a few teeth peeked out from behind thin lips. I couldn't help but wrinkle my nose at how he said me name. "I can't wait to paint you red...then you'll look just like my dear Sora…"

My eyes widened as I finally understood why even his fellow prisoners were uneasy with the young man. _Did he...did he really kill his own _sister?

I leaned back on instinct when a fist suddenly shot out at my head. I jumped away from the quick teen, using my small size to my advantage to evade his punches. I narrowed my eyes in disgust and anger at the grinning bastard. I didn't care how many minutes I wasted; I wasn't going to give him a quick death like the other prisoner.

Kenta tried to sweep my feet out from under me and I leaped high into the air, ready to take him off guard like I did with the old man. I somersaulted in the air and clasped my hands together, ready to slam them down on his head. The added force should concuss him for sure, but shouldn't kill him.

Then, he took me by surprise. He _laughed,_ and bent over so his back was facing me. He left himself wide open, not even attempting to dodge. From this angle, I would not only land my hit, but slam into his back as well. What was the point…?

Too late, I noticed a gleam of silver poking out from between his arm and torso. My eyes widened and I barely had time to think, _Is that a knife?! _Before I landed, the short blade sinking into my side.

A pained shriek left my throat, the knife stabbing straight through my side and right into one of my many bruises, making it hurt worse. Kenta cackled again, and threw me off his back.

I tried getting to my feet but reeled back again when he backhanded me hard, forcing me to roll a bit further away. I glared murder at the ecstatic teen, a hand gripping my bleeding side. He was barely even paying attention to me anymore, instead gazing at his bloodied pocket knife in wonder.

"Why the hell do you have a knife?" I growled out, hoping he didn't stab anything too important. The wound felt like it was on the very outside of my waist, so hopefully it didn't do much damage.

"Oh yes...you look just as good covered in blood as my sister did!" He exclaimed, and stalked towards me. He raised his arm up, ready to stab at me again, only for his arm to be suddenly _gone._

We both blinked in surprise at the bleeding stump up to his elbow, and only when I heard the rest of his arm hit the ground did I notice the black sand pouring out of me. Kenta screamed in shock and agony, gripping his arm and back away from me. I stared at the black cloud above my head in awe, where only a lone arm had formed so far.

_I...I wasn't even trying to bring Sandy out...and since when could he move around before he even fully formed…?_

The rest of his body finished forming and he landed with a heavy _thud _in front of me. His featureless face was turned downwards at first, before slowly moving up to glare at Kenta. "_**...I thought...you liked...kids?" **_He said, my distorted voice repeating what I had mockingly said to the old man.

Fearful and shocked shouts rang up from the angry man from the prisoner's corner when Sandy spoke, while the crazy kid just looked surprised and interested. While Kenta was staring up at the bandaged being that towered over him, I quickly moved away from them both. I knew that when Sandy came out on his own that he could be unpredictable, and I couldn't afford to let him accidentally injure me in the crossfire of what he was going to do to my opponent.

He would probably try to reset me, and that's the _last _thing I want right now.

My sudden movement distracted Kenta for a brief moment, and that's when Sandy struck.

I quickly turned around just in time to see Sandy rake his large taloned hand down the teen's torso, spraying blood _everywhere._ Kenta let out a gurgled scream as his life blood left him at an alarming rate.

"_**...serves you...right." **_The mass of black bandages and sand stated blandly, watching Kenta fall backwards, desperately grasping at his torn torso. He would probably bleed out in less than a minute.

_Well, if Sandy gave him that minute, he would. _I thought dryly, shaking my head fondly as my soul sibling stabbed his hand into Kenta's chest, ripping apart his heart and probably shredding his lungs as well. _Really, we need to work on your ruthlessness…_

Sandy felt my fondness and exasperation through our bond, and he sent frustration and love back. I guess he wanted more of a fight out of the teen.

"_**...RrrraaaAAAGGGHHHH!" **_Sandy suddenly screamed, his voice taking on that harsh ringing that affected my voice before. He flexed his claws and shouted up at the ceiling, projecting nothing but disappointment and frustration. I quickly glanced at the other people in the room and saw that none of them looked frozen. The two prisoners were shaking on their platform, while Hisoka was looking at Sandy with a grin on his face.

Does my paralyzing scream not work when Sandy uses it?

When all that was left was a faint ringing throughout the room, Sandy finally dispersed, fading away into nothingness, evaporating the blood on this body as well.

I took a deep breath, happy that my fights were over with anyway. "Well, that's it for my fights!" I called out, heading towards where the walkway was. My voice snapped the other three males out of their trance, and they quickly focused back on me.

"Wh-what...what the hell was that?!" The angry prisoner exclaimed, pointing towards Kenta's mangled corpse.

"What do you mean? He used a weapon, so I did too." I said nonchalantly, walking towards a still grinning Hisoka. "Sorry for getting the arena dirty," I said, giving the magician a slightly apologetic look. "Sandy tends to get a little...messy." I said lowly so only Hisoka could hear.

"I see~" He said silkily, eyes looking over my body. "You best take care of that stab wound, little Guren. I won't be but a moment~" He tapped my nose teasingly as he passed me by. I was sure he was going to pester me about Sandy some more, but surprisingly he didn't. Maybe he was more interested in his fights?

He did have a good point, though. I needed to see the damage. I unzipped my vest and shrugged it off, leaving me in only my black sleeveless shirt. I made sure to fold the red vest in a way that had the bloody sides in the middle and out of sight before stuffing it into the bottom of my bag. I dug around and pulled out one of the few bandages I thought to bring, mostly with Gon in mind.

"I'd prefer to fight both of you at the same time. It'll be a bit quicker that way~" Hisoka said, beckoning both of his opponents to join him. I cast them a quick glance, and once I was sure none of their attention was on me, I rolled my shirt up to bunch under my breasts, awkwardly holding it there as I looked at my newest wound.

It really wasn't that bad. If I had been any farther to the right, I would have gotten away with just a cut instead of a puncture wound. I glanced up again as I disinfected it and saw Hisoka standing casually across from both prisoners, one bouncing in excitement while the other glared hatefully. I couldn't hear what he was saying since the crazy kid was singing loudly again, but I was sure it wasn't anything nice.

I tried to wrap the gauze around my waist with one hand, but it wasn't going so well. I spared one last glance towards the three guys in the arena, and decided I could risk it. They weren't going to pay me any attention anyway.

The angry man was rushing at Hisoka, fists up and ready. His 'partner' just continued dance in place, singing to himself without a care in the world. I lifted my shirt up higher and gripped the hem with my teeth, exposing my battered torso and white bra to the room. _This is much easier now, _I thought, bandaging my wound quickly.

A quick look showed angry man on the ground, head bent at an awkward angle and eyes blank. His fellow prisoner was laughing. Really? All that talk and he went down sooner than I thought. Hisoka must be bored.

I had just finished wrapping my wound when crazy town let out a shriek, causing me to look up in alarm. I didn't even think guys could scream that high. I expected to see Hisoka ripping out his innards or something, but instead found that his beady eyes were on _me_. His hands were on his cheeks like some school girl hiding her blush. "Oh, it's my lucky day! A bloody show _and _a strip tease!"

Hisoka had immediately turned to look at me when he heard 'strip tease', much to my annoyance and embarrassment. I quickly spat out my shirt, letting it fall down again. My face got hot and I glared at them both. "Shut up!" I spat at them both, not even caring that Hisoka had yet to say something about it. "How else was I supposed to-" I cut myself off and my eyes widened. "Look out!"

As Hisoka was distracted, Crazy dashed at him with a bloodied knife poised to strike him in the neck. He had a knife too?! No, he had grabbed Kenta's knife sometime when I wasn't paying attention. His eyes were narrowed now, looking scary and focused. He was the most terrifying prisoner of the four, and probably the most dangerous.

Hisoka countered his attack by simply batting his arm away. He did so with such force that there was a distinct crunching sound that surely must have been bones breaking and the knife flew straight up into the air. Then, with that same arm, he swung his hand back down and-

My eyes widened further and my jaw dropped when Crazy's head fell from his shoulders from a simple hand chop, blood gushing like a fountain from his neck as the body fell backwards. Hisoka merely flicked blood off his hand as he turned away, looking over at me.

I looked back to the fallen teen, still trying to process what happened. Hisoka...just _cut a person's head off with only a hand chop._

I was watching closely, and didn't see him pull out a card from nowhere, either. He just chopped it off like he was chopping through butter instead of flesh and bone. What the hell.

"We're free to leave now, little Guren~" Hisoka called over, giving me his usual vulpine smile before he started walking towards the doorway the prisoners came from.

I swallowed and closed my mouth. I nodded dumbly and stood up to put my bag back on, mind whirling and my body shaking. I wasn't shaking with fear, though.

That was one of the coolest things I'd _ever _seen.

I bit my lip and hurried after him, easily avoiding the bodies and blood. I wanted to desperately ask him how the hell he did that, but knew he would probably deflect just like he has been about the rest of his abilities.

My conscience was once again trying to warn me, that him being able to _casually chop through people's necks _was a BAD thing, and makes him even more dangerous. I couldn't help but _admire _how strong he was, though.

A new determination started building up within me at the realization. I wanted to be like him. Well, I wanted to be as strong and as confident as him. Hisoka was the strongest person I've ever met, and I don't even think he's gotten _close _to serious yet.

I also wanted to _know _him. To do that, I was going to have compensate. "Sandy is sentient," I said casually as I caught up to him. Hisoka glanced down at me, interest plain on his face. "I usually bring him out by will, but sometimes he comes out on his own, like with that Kenta guy."

Hisoka slowed his pace, looking at me fully now. "_Really? _How peculiar~. So that dismemberment wasn't intentional?"

I shook my head. "Not _my _intent, no. Sandy can think, since he's a part of me, but only so much. He relies on instinct, mostly."

The redhead stopped walking now, his whole body facing me. I stopped with him. "What exactly _is_…'Sandy', Guren~?" He asked outright, leaning forward a bit in anticipation of my answer.

I gave him a smile, inwardly cheering that he took the bait. "How do you sharpen your cards _and _your hands?"

Hisoka stared down at me with a blank expression, his smile frozen on his face. I made sure to stay on guard while I gave him an encouraging look. _Come on, just tell me…_

He stepped closer until he was in my space. I held my ground and simply tilted my head up to keep eye contact. I wasn't going to let him intimidate me, or make me uncomfortable. I was _getting _my answers.

We were so close that I could probably see up his loose white shirt if I wanted to. I didn't dare take my eyes off his though. His smile grew a bit wider, and that unwanted observation came back full force as he looked at me, not even bothering to tilt his head down. _Even at this angle, where I can see up his nose and the tender underside of his jaw...he looks so beautiful._

My throat went dry. I've seen beauty many times in my short life. The most breathtaking beauty was my brother's simple, innocent smile that had the power of the sun behind it. It was powerful like the sun too; able to warm your very soul just by having it directed at you. The second was the way Aunt Mito's eyes shined with love that only a parent could give their child, even though we weren't her own. These two things always chased away any melancholy or dark feelings I had when I saw them, the sight alone filling me with gentle warmth.

The beauty of Hisoka left me feeling the same, but also completely different.

His features, his voice, his eyes, his scent...his whole _being _left me feeling a warmth that was _searing. _It didn't stop at my chest, either; it burned its way through my whole body and made it hard to think straight. I wanted to be near him constantly and at the same time I wanted to be as far away from him as possible. I ached at the thought of either. It was so frustratingly confusing!

_I want to know more about him...but I also don't. I'm scared of how worse this feeling will get if I learn more about the evil magician Hisoka._

I wasn't feeling so sure about my on the fly plan to get him open up anymore. My smile dropped slowly, while _his _grew at the sight. My sensitive nose burned from his sweet musk again, and it was all too much.

I stepped back away from him as much as the corridor would allow. I flinched when the cold wall connected with my back. It was much more noticeable without the extra layer of my vest. I broke eye contact for a split second at the distraction, and when I looked back he was just centimeters away from me again, trapping me against the wall. He didn't touch me, but his piercing gaze was enough to pin me in place.

"You like playing with fire, don't you, little girl~?" Hisoka asked, finally tilting head head down to look at me fully.

My teeth refused to unclench at his close proximity, so I only stared up at him, barely blinking.

The magician hummed, looking at me like he was debating something. "You truly have no idea, do you?" He stated lowly.

I cleared my throat, wishing my sore throat would just _heal _already. "What do you mean?"

He brought a hand up to my face, making me snap my eyes towards it instantly. It did nothing threatening, but that didn't mean I was safe. Still, I did nothing as Hisoka ran the back of his slender fingers down my face at a snail's pace.

"If you can pass the Hunter exam, I'll tell you~." He said silkily, drawing his hand away.

Huh? I blinked, looking back up to his face. "What? Why not now?"

"It's still too soon for you to know," He chided, tugging at a lock of hair by my ear.

I thought about that. Was this another of his personal tests? I couldn't know his sharpening technique until I was strong enough to become a Hunter? "...How do I know you won't just disappear before you tell me?" I asked suspiciously, giving him a narrow look.

He let go of my hair and tapped a nail against his full lips. "Would I _lie _to you, little Guren~?"

"Yes." I said instantly, growing even more suspicious at his cunning smirk.

"How mean…" He drawled, not looking put out at all. "No trust for your team mate~? I thought I'd earned at least that carrying you through this entire phase…"

I bit my tongue, trying not to spit the first three retorts that came to mind at the man. Instead, I demanded, "You have to promise."

He quirked a brow. "Hm?"

"I said," I held up a fist and extended my pinky towards him. "That you have to promise. _Promise me _that you'll tell me once we become Hunters. If you do, I swear I'll tell you about _my _abilities." _The ones you know of..._

Hisoka looked more amused than ever at my demands. He nibbled on his lip, just gazing at me with gleaming yellow eyes. I continued to hold my hand out, growing more impatient by minute. How much thought did it require to make a promise?

Finally, the man held out his own pinky and gently wrapped it around mine. "All right~," He drawled, eyes twinkling with mischief.

I frowned a bit, practically _smelling _his dishonesty. "Not like that, you have to pinky swear!" I scolded, giving him a look that said I wasn't falling for his tricks. "Like this,"

I squeezed his pinky tighter with mine and swung our hands up and down. "I pinky swear that I'll tell Hisoka about my abilities after I pass the exams so he can tell me about _his_~!" I sang, giving him a smug smirk. "If I break my promise, I have to swallow a thousand needles…~"

With a final squeeze, and finished the promise. "Pinky sworn!" Then, I went in for the kill, needing the extra assurance that the magician couldn't break his word. "Sealed with a kiss!" I maneuvered our hands so our knuckles knocked together and pressed the pads of our thumbs against each other.

I dropped his hand, confident in the power of the pinky swear.

Hisoka blinked down at his hand a little bewildered. "Well, that was...something~" His golden gaze flickered over to me. "Doesn't a pinky swear require _me _to say something…?"

I shook my head and put my hands on my hips. "Nope! That's how pinky swears work on my island. I even made it stronger at the end, so you can't back out now!" I informed him gleefully. It was something Aunt Mito insisted on while Gon and I grew up. You _cannot _break promises if you pinky swear and end it with a kiss. So Hisoka was going to have to deal with it.

"I see…~" He continued to stare at my face, his smirk slowly returning. "Would you like me to make it even _stronger?" _He offered.

My brows furrowed. "Stronger? What could poss-_eep!"_

His hands were suddenly under my armpits, lifting me effortlessly off my feet so I was eye level with him. "W-what are you-_mmph!"_ Hisoka silenced me with his lips, and moved close enough to brush his body against mine.

The contrast of cold stone at my back and his warm body at my front was almost as distracting as his lips. Almost. They didn't just press against mine this time, they were _moving_. I've never been kissed like this. The way his lips caressed mine made them tingle and made my face burn.

His face tilted a bit and it felt even _better_. His nose brushed against my cheek as he made a low sound of content deep in his throat.

My mind was blank again from feeling his mouth on mine. I couldn't _think, _it was too _hot _and my fingers felt _numb_ but my lips were still _tingling-_

He pulled back and I gasped for breath, eyes snapping open. When did I shut them?

Hisoka smiled at me and leaned back in for a swift peck before abruptly dropping me. I landed on unsteady feet, wholly unprepared. "There, now it's sealed with an _actual _kiss too~" He sang, heading towards down the hallway without me.

I swallowed heavily and shook my head, trying to clear away the fogginess that started to drift in. "Will you stop _doing _that!?"

**XXX**

"Oh, come on! I don't even know this guy! Why are you trying to kill _me_?!" I exclaimed, throwing my body to the side to dodge another scimitar.

"That's just mean, Guren~ Where's my support?" Hisoka pouted as he flipped through the air to dodge the blades circling him.

"Hey, _you're _the one who this guy's pissed at! I'm just looking out for myself here!"

The next 'challenge' we came across turned out to be a man named Togari, who was apparently a past victim of Hisoka's. The past examiner had a grudge against him for his scars apparently, and ambushed us for revenge. Honestly, I thought he was lucky to get _only _scars from his fight with the magician. It was better than being dead!

I felt a little sorry for him at first, being a Hunter and getting soundly beaten by a participant, until the asshole tried to kill _me _as well just because I was unlucky enough to get paired up with Hisoka for this phase.

Now, Hisoka and I were dodging spinning swords _and _Togari around the candlelit room, both of us earning additional wounds from the ordeal. Well, Hisoka gained a shallow gash on his side, and I gained two new slashes on my calf and right arm, just under the cut Hisoka gave me during our scrap.

I was not. Happy.

Hisoka gracefully backflipped so that he was standing next to me once again and looked down at me bemused. "You know, there's no 'I' in team, little Guren~"

I gave him an unamused glare back. "Yeah, well there's no 'U' either." I paused when Hisoka suddenly wrapped an arm around me and _twirled _us away from Togari's swords. Once he let me go, I continued. "So I guess if _I'm _not on the team, and _you're _not on the team..._then nobody's on the goddamned team!" _

We cartwheeled apart in order to evade again. My body throbbed with annoyance and pain at the motion. With one last scathing look, I spat out, "This team _sucks!" _

He had the nerve to give me his stupid smile, looking as if I had paid him a compliment. "Aww~"

"WILL YOU TWO JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP AND _DIE _ALREADY?!" Togari screamed, looking red with anger.

I rolled my eyes and gave Hisoka a look that said _I _would clean up his mess if he didn't _right now._

His eyes shined with mirth but did as I silently demanded. Apparently he was as fed up with the hunter as well.

I waited impatiently by the door while Hisoka cut off Togari's head with his own sword. I rocked on my feet a bit, grimacing when my heels ached in protest. Man, my whole body was just sore as hell.

When he finally started to walk back over to me, I didn't bother to wait for him before going into the newest room, ready to just be _done _already. It wouldn't take him long to catch up anyway with his long ass legs.

I squinted a bit at the brightness that greeted me, and started a bit when a voice spoke from a speaker again.

"Number 406, Guren Freecss is the first to pass the third phase. Her time was six hours and twenty one minutes."

I grinned, happy beyond belief that it was over. I was the first one, too!

"Number 44, Hisoka is the second to pass the third phase. His time was six hours and twenty two minutes."

I glanced over my shoulder at the magician and gave him a bright smile. I didn't even care if he tried to kiss me again right now, I was just so happy to rest!

I looked around the empty room and wandered over to a random spot along the wall, tossing my bag onto the ground and sank down with a sigh.

The redhead followed me over silently and took a seat next to me, crossed legged with his back against the wall. He had a smile on his face as he watched me stretch my legs out and flop my head against my bag like it was a pillow.

I watched him from my peripherals as he took out his deck of cards and started to build a card tower.

I turned my head to watch him fully as his tower got higher and higher. I kicked off my boots during that time to relieve my hitting feet. I don't know how much time passed before the top reached his own head. "I wish I could do something like that," I said, causing his head to snap towards me like I sneaked up on him, startling me a bit.

Hisoka smiled again, his half lidded eyes locked with my wary ones. "Would you like to learn~?"

I blinked and glanced from the pile of cards and back to him. "You'd show me how…?" I asked, knowing there had to be a catch.

"Of course! Why what else is there to do to pass the time~" His eyes suddenly held a more sinister gleam. "Unless you'd indulge me with a rematch…?"

I quickly shook my head. "No! I mean, no, this is fine." I said, moving to sit across from him. I was actually kind of excited to learn how to build a card tower. I bet Gon would be impressed!

I reached out to grab some cards when pale hands suddenly gripped my wrists. Before I could even open my mouth to ask him what the hell he was doing, Hisoka had already pulled me towards him and situated myself into his lap. I froze at the feeling of his hard chest pressed against my back, and his hot breath on my ear.

"There we go...now, the key is patience and concentration~" His voice was the same as just moments ago, but it was _so close _that I could barely concentrate on what he was saying. His chin was resting on the top of my head now, and his heavily muscled arms were on either side of me as he demonstrated building a card tower.

My legs were sprawled out over his crossed ones; his baggy pants felt weird against my bare legs. They were softer than I expected. His scent was stronger than ever this close, a mix of blood, sweat, and his natural candy dipped musk. It was making my head swim, and that strange foreign heat was bubbling up in my belly again.

"Now, it's your turn little Guren~" The magician said, knocking over his level one tower so I could start my own. I swallowed quietly, and tried to scoot out of his lap, but his arm snapped around my midriff to pull me back against his chest.

"What are you doing?" I asked, irritated and uncertain.

"It's a bit chilly in here isn't it? I'll keep you warm while you build your tower~"

I shook my head and placed a hand on his forearm, trying to pull it away with no success. "I can just get my vest out of my bag, you don't need to bother."

"Mhm, but that won't help your arms and legs now will it~?" He sang, shifting me a bit in his lap.

I turned my head up to frown at him. "I'll be _fine. _I can't even reach the cards like this anyway, so let go."

"Ah, why didn't you just say so? Here we go~" Hisoka bent over and reached out with his free hand to sweep the cards closer, forcing me to bend forward with him uncomfortably. I hissed in pain when his steel band of an arm pressed into my stab wound and sore stomach. "Oops…" The red head leaned back against the wall again and gladly went with him willingly, wanting to ease the pressure on my poor abused torso. "Sorry about that, little Guren~"

I tossed him a glare that did nothing but amuse him further, the bastard. I huffed out a sigh and grabbed the hand of the arm holding me hostage, and tried to move it. "Will you at least stopping putting pressure on my stomach? It still hurts and I need to lean forward a bit to do this."

Hisoka hummed and did as I asked, to my relief. He didn't remove it like I'd hoped, but instead placed his hand on my undamaged side. I let go of his hand like it was on fire when I realized I was still holding it.

I leaned forward a bit and spread my legs so my feet weren't in the way of my building zone. I picked up two cards and carefully balanced them against each other, trying to ignore the fingers that were playing with the fabric of my shirt.

There was silence for a while as I worked on my base, only hearing a huff of laughter now and then when the cards fell over. His hand was still playing with the edge of my shirt, his nails scraping against the sensitive skin of my hip. From the corner of my eye I saw his other hand come up and land on my leg. He didn't say anything, just caressed up to my knee without a word, making sure to trace over my scabbing cut from Togari's sword as he did so. I studiously ignored him, putting all my focus on my second level of cards and _not _on the weird, insufferable heat that was building between my legs at the constant touching.

My experience with boys who weren't my brother was limited, and the only men I had contact with usually ended up dead minutes later. I've had boys flirt with me before; Well, auntie always _said_ they were flirting when they teased me or tried to make me play with them instead of Gon. I didn't know what _this _was, or why it was making me feel so weird.

Was this how adults flirted? I've seen some men flirt with auntie, but they usually complemented her or bought her flowers. Hisoka was just being...well, _weird._

Aunt Mito always cautioned Gon and I about adults who liked kids like they were adults, said it was wrong, perverted. I was always confused by this, because she never said anything when some ladies took Gon out on a date now and then, she just said to have fun. Even when _I _got asked out for a date to the beach by a twenty year old man she didn't say anything. Although, I didn't really see it as a date, as Gon was with me and the guy who asked was pretty much ignored the whole time.

If Hisoka was like those people auntie was talking about, it would explain all the kisses. And the staring. At first I thought he was doing it just to piss me off, but now…

I felt my face get hot at the thought of Hisoka _liking _me and accidently knocked down my tower as I was setting the final topping card down. "_Shit."_

Hisoka moved his head so that his lips were next to my red ear. "Not as easy as it looks, hm~?"

I tried to dislodge his face away by scrunching up my shoulders, and started building again.

The magician pressed his nose into the crook of my neck and breathed in deeply, shivering. I glared at the cards when his hand went under my shirt. My heart was pounding so loud I could hear it in my ears, and it was similar to when I fought for my life. The hand caressing my leg suddenly wrapped around my calf, just under my cut, and lifted my leg up so he could reposition his own leg. He pulled and I was suddenly sitting on his bent leg instead of his lap. Fine by me; his calf wasn't the most comfy, but it was better than sitting on whatever the hard thing in his pocket was. I might just have a fresh bruise on my left butt cheek from it.

_Just another injury added to the list that _he _caused. _I bit my lip to refrain from speaking, not wanting to risk blowing over my tower now that I _finally_ finished level two.

Hisoka's other leg was still bent at the knee, only spread further out. He put my leg back down so that only the heel of my foot hung off his leg, the rest of my limb was still pressed against the soft white cloth.

The hand that had been crawling its way up my leg suddenly left and disappeared from sight. My eyes fell closed in relief. One less thing to-

My eyes blinked back open when I felt that same hand shuffling around behind my back. Curious, I turned my head a bit to see what he was doing and nearly gave myself whiplash with how quickly I turned my face forward again, my entire face burning.

Aunt Mito gave both Gon and I the 'birds and the bees' talk just this year, so I knew how it was technically was supposed to work. But that didn't prepare me for seeing Hisoka with his hand in his pants, obviously pleasuring himself by the feel of his knuckles gently knocking into my back with every stroke.

I let out shaky breath through my nose, and Hisoka chuckled against my neck. "_Oh Guren~ _You're such a good girl…~" I shivered at how throaty his voice sounded. I could feel him looking at my flushed face, but I didn't dare look at him.

Hisoka pressed his face further into my neck and breathed me in again as his hand crept down my shorts towards that pulsing heat between my legs. _When did he undo my shorts...? _

Not able to ignore him anymore, I abandoned my tower to grab his wrist and dug in my nails as hard as I could into the skin above his wrist band. He paused, and let out a groan. He did as I silently asked, and moved his hand to squeeze my thigh instead. The way his fingers moved beneath the fabric of my shorts was almost hypnotic. I couldn't help but watch in stunned fascination as the clawed digits poked out from the hemline and how dangerously close his thumb was to my crotch.

His hand was hot, and I didn't know what to do. Do I move? Would he let me? I felt both electrified and numb.

Hisoka pressed chaste kisses up my neck, and kneaded my thigh. Panicked, I crossed my legs to keep his hand from trying to explore too far again. Hisoka made a deep humming sound right into my ear and tightened his grip on my leg _hard_, making me hiss in pain.

In retaliation, I reached up with the hand that wasn't locked around his wrist to grab his injured shoulder, digging my fingers into the bloody wound. Hisoka let out a low growl that shot static sparks through my body, making me gasp. His hips twitched upwards and that fist in his pants dug into my back. I arched as far away as I could without really moving.

_"Mm...Gu~ren…" _He moaned lowly into my ear, causing my whole body to break out in goosebumps and making me clench my legs tighter when sparks danced through my lower half.

Hisoka's chest rose and fell in rapid motions as he tried to catch his breath, every exhale tickling my ear. Cold reality crept in on my heart and I removed my hands from his person, both coming back red from his blood. Whatever Hisoka did wasn't something I should have seen. I knew what it was but at the same time...I didn't.

I heard Hisoka withdraw his hand from his pants and nearly flinched when he chuckled. Curious again, I reluctantly looked to see what was so funny and saw that there was something glistening on his fingers. It webbed between them when he gave me a light wave.

_What...was _that? _Auntie never said something came _out _after an orgasm..._

"I seem to have made a mess~" He said, and I looked at his eyes for the first time through this whole situation. The pupils were blown wide, and slowly shrinking as he stared at me. He had the same sadistic smile on his face as when we fought, and I really didn't want to be in his lap anymore.

My body didn't want to move.

Hisoka nudged my nose with his to get my attention. "I'll tell you how I sharpened my cards _now_ instead of after the exams if you do something for me~"

My brows raised at the enticing offer, and I found my voice. "What do I have to do?" I asked cautiously.

He smirked and he held out his dirtied hand. "Lick my hand clean~"

I frowned and scrunched up my nose. "I'm not licking whatever _that _is. It's smells really salty. It doesn't look like it'd taste good, either."

"You never know unless you try it," Hisoka chided, like a parent scolding their kid for not wanting to eat their vegetables. He finally removed his hand from my shorts and brushed some of my hair out of my face.

I was a bit dizzy from what I had just partially witnessed so I kept silent, looking between his earnest expression and the foreign stuff covering his hand. "_Hm_...how about this~? Since you were _such a good girl,_" Something deep in my chest shuddered at how he said that. "I'll compromise. If you give it a taste, I'll give you a _hint_ about my cards. Better~?"

I looked into his yellow eyes searchingly, trying to detect a lie. "Promise?" I said, narrowing my eyes.

"Of course~" He said smoothly, and ran a knuckle down the side of my face. I let out a sigh and batted his hand away.

_I'll just take his word for it this time, I don't really feel like doing the whole pinky swear right now. _

I tentatively leaned towards his hand and swiped my tongue over his index finger. The stuff tasted as weird as it looked. It was salty like it smelled, but it had that strange sweetness to it that seemed to cling to Hisoka.

I frowned and quickly licked up a bit more, wanting to try to decipher the taste. I ignored the salty part I didn't like and tried to figure out the sweetness. It was like...candy? No, it was like...cotton candy or bubblegum.

"_Mm_, you like it~?" He purred, his eyes dark again.

Now that I thought about it, even his _lips _tasted sweet. I twisted around and grabbed his other hand, the one I left bloody crescents earlier.

The redhead watched as I ran my tongue over one of the marks, wanting to test my theory. I grimaced at the overwhelming taste of copper, but underneath all of that…

"Little Guren~?"

"Why are you so _sweet?" _ I practically demanded, tired of having so many unanswered questions about the magician.

Hisoka blinked, looking perplexed. "What?"

I gave him a scorching glare and turned in his lap so that I was facing him. "_I said, _why are you so sweet?" _And apparently deaf._

His perplexity grew into astonishment. "Well, that's the first time anyone's called me that…"

_Did he go stupid too? Where the hell was the Hisoka I knew?_ "No, you-_ugh!"_ His normal amused look started to creep back when I threw my hands up into the air in exasperation. "You always smell like you've been rolling around in bubblegum for hours, and you even _taste _like it too. So what's your deal?" I groused, crossing my arms under my chest.

Hisoka had a peculiar look in his eyes, and his smile stretched into his vulpine smirk. "Oh~? What impressive senses you and your brother have~" I scowled when he didn't elaborate further. I didn't know why I was so upset all of a sudden, but I was just so tired of not knowing anything about the man who's been taking up my mind since I met him.

"Well?"

He only smiled and reached down between us. My face got hot again and I quickly scrambled out of his lap, thinking he was going to touch himself again.

Instead, he only untied the tattered cloth at his waist and used it to wipe his hand off. He raised a brow at me, looking even more amused than before. I flushed in embarrassment this time for jumping to conclusions. No, screw that! _He's _the one being perverted, not me!

I glared and pointedly moved towards my bag. I lied down and used it as a pillow, before closing my eyes.

"What are you doing all the way over there~?" Hisoka asked, and I could tell he smirking without having to look.

"I'm tired and sore. I'm going to take a nap." I said, keeping my eyes closed.

He hummed and said nothing else, to my silent relief. At first I'd only said that as an excuse to get away from him, but I actually _was _tired. Not only physically, but mentally too. The trek down the tower was taxing, especially when I had to be on guard constantly.

I could feel myself slowly drifting off, and I did so gladly. I had that feeling deep in my subconscious that told me that going to sleep and being completely defenseless around Hisoka was a stupid idea, but I couldn't bring myself to care.

**XXX**


	5. Chapter 5

_**Author's note is kind of long, but please DON'T SKIP!**_

**You wouldn't believe how long it took to get this done.**

**Firstly, this whole damn chapter was written entirely on my phone. Thankfully I have Google docs on my phone too so it was easy to do final editing and all that before I posted it.**

**Second, I mostly wrote this at work, since I've been working overtime from when I last updated until YESTERDAY. I also volunteered to stock the cooler most of the time so I could hide behind a tower of overstocked Dr. Pepper away from the cameras and write this! XD**

**Thirdly, THANK YOU FOR THE KIND REVIEWS! I love them, they make me smile when I read them! For the first time in any of my fics, I'm going to answer them here and now.**

**LittleAngel2292: You've been here since the beginning, and even watched Ajin because of this fic, so THANK YOU! I appreciate you, and thanks for reading and reviewing some of my other stories as well! And yes, most of the proctors are just as creeped out by Hisokas actions as we are.**

**Topaz leaves: Yes, I agree! I feel like an evil mastermind organizing that train wreck when writing, honestly T_T. So, I'm planning on keeping the whole Ajin thing for this fic, and what I mean by that is that they aren't even seen as human in that show, but as demi-humans. So, Guren's 'Nen' is something nobody has seen before, **_**kind**_ **of like Alluka. I will tell you this though, I still plan to mix the two a bit, as in let Guren try to incorporate Nen like abilities to her Ajin ones, like you'll see in this chapter. Until she takes a divination test, she's going to be seen as a specialist.**

**Noface: Yes, I totally agree! Not finding many good hisoka x oc fics is what drove me to write this. I do plan on finishing ALL of my fics, so no worries there. Honestly, this was almost a fem!Gon x Hisoka fic, but I really wanted to bring something new to the HxH community and I always want to crossover EVERYTHING with Ajin: Demi-Human. So then Guren was born! Oh, and she'll remember about the hint, don't worry.**

**Natalia:** **Happy late birthday! I was super wishing you a good one from all the way over here in Kansas, so I hope you got my good vibes! Your reviews fucking kill me and I love them. I'm glad you like my writing and hope you continue to! Try to make it through this chapter, dear! *evil cackling***

**FallenwaterTheFallen: Oh, it will **_**not **_**be pretty. Yeah, 'shook' is a good way to describe the aftermath of reading this, especially writing it. I lol'd when you said you read this in the library. At least I had the cold ass cooler to hide why my face was red when writing/editing! I'm glad you like the Ajin stuff, please check out the show on Netflix or wherever when you have the time!**

**guadadominguez4:** **Haha, thanks I plan to! Yes, you guessed **_**right**_**.**

**Guest: Thank you, I appreciate the support! It is a challenge to write and usually smut isn't so difficult to write but **_**these**_ **circumstances definitely make it so. Can't wait to hear more reviews from you!**

** .Qween:** **Lol, I hear ya. You get a more in-depth look at how I'm writing Hisoka in the chapter, so you'll see a shadow of what he'll be like when he **_**does**_ **find out about Guren's secret. Yeah, ibm's (Ajin term: Invisible Black Matter) are pretty sweet. I'm trying to decide if I should have Sandy change physically as Guren crow's or just keep him how he looks now. (I would change his head later on of anything, nothing else) Thanks for the support!**

**I'll do this from now on if y'all want before every chap, and to those who I didn't mention, I love your reviews and support as well! You weren't forgotten!**

**Were you creeped out by Hisoka's actions last chapter? Well, you better get a Disney movie ready or something because this is probably worse. Someone wanted me to do a whole other one-shot of last chapter like I did for Dangerous Interest, but I haven't really had the time so I put a little bit in here that I hope will suffice.**

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**Enjoy.**

**XXX**

I woke up to a painful throbbing in my thigh.

I groggily came into awareness and pulled myself into a sitting position, body aching from sleeping on cold, hard stone. I glanced down at my leg and saw purple bruises peeking out from beneath the hem of my shorts, and noticed that the fly was completely undone. _Why was…?_

Then I remembered what happened before I fell asleep.

I turned away from my leg and tried not to think about it. I didn't want to think about Hisoka so soon after waking up.

A sigh left me silently, and I dug through my bag for my canteen. As I pulled it out, I heard a chuckle near my left that dashed those hopes entirely. My head turned reluctantly and saw that the magician hadn't moved. He still sat with his back against the wall and had an impressive card tower next to him.

"Have a good nap, little apple~?" Hisoka asked teasingly. His eyes remained shut, but his smile widened as he felt my gaze.

I shifted so I wasn't kneeling anymore and leaned back into my bag, knees aching from the hard floor. "It could have been better," I said, not acknowledging the fruit nickname.

He slid open a golden eye just enough to peer at me through his ridiculously long lashes. "It probably _would_ have been if you'd stayed over here~,"

My face burned hot at the many scandalous scenarios that I could have woken to had I stayed in the man's lap.

I quickly turned away to hide my blush, putting my canteen back into my bag with way more focus than needed.

"_Oh my_, you're blushing~! I figured you'd be more comfortable and warm on my lap," Hisoka hummed, his lips curling deviously at my startled look. "What did you _think _I meant…?"

I couldn't form words to retort or defend myself. I could only stare in mortification while my throat closed up in the face the magician's gleeful grin.

He leaned towards me slowly, eyes narrowing. I leaned back to keep a distance only to be suddenly pulled into his lap once again. I tried to push out of his hold only to be squeezed back against his chest. I hissed in annoyance and defiance at the manhandling. Hisoka only let out a hum in contentment and buried his face into my hair.

"Ah, that's better~," He sighed, drawing his legs up to bend at the knees, trapping my legs between his. They dwarfed mine, and I couldn't help but appreciate the sudden warmth he provided. Damn it.

With a sigh, I relaxed in his arms and let him hold me. I could feel his smug satisfaction without having to look but tried to ignore him. I knew I couldn't get away without a fight, and I really didn't want to take the bait. Or any more bruises.

"Keep your hands where I can see them," I grumbled, not wanting to sit and let him touch himself again. Hell, no.

I felt him smirk against my ear as he calmly raised his large, pale hands out in front of us, palms outward. His nails looked especially lethal up close and personal. How could he do _anything _with nails so long and pointy? I could never grow mine out without poking myself in the eyes on accident.

His hands then lowered to run up and down my legs. Goosebumps spread across my skin almost immediately. "Hey, stop that!"

"Hm, but you're so cold, little Guren~," he murmured into my ear, his honeyed tone making tingles erupt through said ear. Jesus.

I curled my nose, not denying the statement. I _was _a little chilly, but I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of being right.

Suddenly I gasped. That slick bastard! I whipped my head around to glare at him, my short hair whacking him in the face because of our close proximity. Ha!

"You promised to give me a hint about your tricks!" I accused.

The magician only smiled wider and tilted his head a bit. "I believe I did, yes," He agreed. "Would you like to hear it now~?"

Indignance and fatigue suddenly gone, I twisted so that my whole body was facing him and looked up with barely veiled earnest. The smile he gave me could rival the most mischievous of foxes. "Hm, thought you might~," Hisoka teased, lightly bopping my nose. "I sharpen my cards _and _hands with something everyone has, but only a few are capable of utilizing. You and I are simply some of the capable~."

I stared up at him with a blank expression as I mulled that over. "So…" I said slowly, nibbling my lip in thought. "...you have some kind of invisible energy like me…?" _I'm sure he isn't immortal like me. If he was, I feel like he would be a lot more..._psycho _if he had his immense power on top of immortality._

He made a sound of affirmation and shifted our positions so that he was cross-legged and I was situated in his lap with my legs framing his hips. My scraped knees brushed against the cool stone wall the redhead was leaning back on.

Well, at least I was learning a bit more about the magician. _If all it took was sitting in his lap while he did his weird things to get some answers, I should've done it sooner._

I frowned at that. No, what was I thinking? What Hisoka did was wrong; I could feel it in the bottom of my gut. I needed to forget about him and find something else to fixate on. I was only so interested because of how bored I was back at the beginning of the exams, right? I could forget him, easily.

...It's not like I'm the strongest person here, either. He'd easily forget me too. I also didn't want Gon and the others caught up in whatever game Hisoka and I were playing.

Even as I thought this, I felt a tug on my heart. My brows drew down at the insistent feeling. Just like earlier when I had him paralyzed, I didn't _truly _want to forget about Hisoka, nor did I want him to forget me.

I twirled a lock of hair above my ear as I contemplated what I wanted to do.

"Guren."

I focused on Hisoka again, slightly taken aback by the seriousness in his voice. My breath stuttered in my chest when I saw how close his face was to mine. "...What?"

He leaned in even closer at my question, wracking my nerves even more. His breath washed across my face and his nose brushed against mine. I tried to lean back but he gripped my chin fast, holding me still. I grimaced faintly at the slight pinch of his nails against my skin.

He was so close. I stared into his piercing gaze a little wide-eyed as his lips whispered against mine. Suddenly, instead of kissing me as I expected, the magician flicked his tongue across my mouth and pulled away with a smirk.

I sputtered in surprise and immediately wiped my mouth. "What's your deal?!"

"You had such a sad look on your face~," Was his simple explanation, like that was reason enough to just lick someone's mouth like a dog begging for attention.

_A sad look, huh…?_

I turned around in his lap again and pulled my knees up to my chest. I set my bare feet up onto his calves and held my hands out in front of me palms up and tried to make black sand come out of them.

I was starting to understand what I was really feeling towards the murder clown I was sitting on, and the best thing to help avoid thinking or doing what you didn't want to or think about was to train.

Black sand started to ooze from my palms, but it wasn't doing what I wanted. More and more came out, falling from my hands to pool onto the ground in front of us.

_No, I want it to cling to my hands! _I sucked and bit on the inside of my cheek in frustration as the sand completely stopped forming and faded away when I tried to will out less. I clenched my fists and took a deep breath before trying again.

I tried to get the sand to cover my hands for a little while, but it only fell from them over and over again. What was I doing wrong?! No matter what I did, I couldn't get any results between 'stop' and 'go'. I couldn't find a middle ground…

"As interesting as watching you clench your hands over and over again is, I'm _bored, _little Guren~." Hisoka said lowly as he rested his chin on top of my head. "And when I get bored, I start to get..._anxious…_"

I let the sand fall between my fingers and was instantly on guard. Was he going to instigate a fight after all?

As if hearing my thoughts, he grabbed hold of both my wrists in one hand and my ankles with the other. He pulled my legs out so they were splayed straight out and squeezed my arms against my chest, subsequently pressing our bodies together tighter.

"Knock it off!" I snapped, thrashing against his unrelenting hold. Geez, he was like a four-year-old acting out when he didn't get any attention for five minutes! He threw his long legs over mine, effectively trapping them. "Hey!"

He didn't say anything; only smiled and used his free hand to trail up my legs towards-

NO!

"Stop it, Hisoka!" I hissed venomously, twisting my lower half as far as I could in hopes to derail his path. "I'm trying to train, damn it! Stop messing with me!"

"Oh? Just what kind of training are you trying to do?" He asked blithely, hand skipping teasingly over it's destination and coming to rest below my navel. His fingers slipped inside my undone shorts, and I _really _needed to remember to secure those. "Looks to me like you aren't getting a lot accomplished…~"

The nails of his middle and ring fingers were teasing over the thin cloth of my panties just centimeters above my slit, and I could barely breathe. I froze completely, afraid that the slightest movement would bring his touch lower. Nobody else has touched me in such a private area. _I _hadn't even really touched myself, except when bathing. I knew from Auntie's talk that it was supposed to feel good to be touched down there during sex, but I never really gave it much thought.

To me, it wasn't really about fun, but about reproduction. I had the feeling Gon felt the same way since sex wasn't really something _completely _foreign to us, having been around nature and animals our whole life. I just couldn't understand what was so fun about it. It always looked painful for the female when I saw animals going at it.

I had to do something. I wasn't going to let Hisoka touch me, not like this. Not _here._ "I...I was just trying to do what you d-do…" I confessed, tensing further as his fingers started tapping slowly against my skin.

He made a questioning sound and bent so his head was resting in the crook of my shoulder. His cheek pressed against mine and his hair tickled my ear.

"I can't get my san-, uh, _energy _to stick to my hands. It just does what it always does and pours out of my skin. I have to-" I paused when Hisoka shifted just a bit and his nails pressed a little harder. "...I just can't get it to do what I want…" I said through gritted teeth, trying not to sound as bothered as I was from his touch.

Then, like those were the magic words, he withdrew completely.

I blinked when my hands were suddenly released and wandering fingers pulled out of my shorts. He kept my legs pinned, but not as tightly.

"Go ahead and try again, little Guren," He said, resting his head on top of mine again. "And it's just us here, so make sure it's visible for me~."

_Huh? _"You're gonna help me?" I asked. I couldn't help but be a little excited if he was. No one else really knew about my powers except for Gon, and he only ever played with Sandy. He couldn't really see him or the black sand, so he couldn't really help me practice with it. But Hisoka..._he _had experience with this kind of stuff. He had weaponized his energy to an astonishing degree, in a way I never even thought about trying.

Thoughts of having knifelike hands because of my sand flowed through my head, and increased my eagerness to figure out how to do it. I brought up my hands and concentrated on making sand come out again. I had just brought out a couple of grains when Hisoka cupped my hands in his large ones.

"Make it visible, Guren~," He reminded me. His voice was just above a whisper, as if it wasn't just the two of us here.

Oh, right. I had forgotten about that. "I _can't _really." I answered apologetically, my voice matching his volume out of habit. "Only Sandy can make himself visible when he expresses extreme emotion."

"Of course you can, silly girl~." He refuted with a chuckle. "The same way as 'Sandy' manages it."

"The same-?" I cut myself off when what he implying hit me, and I felt like a complete moron. I willed the sand out again, only this time I thought about the pirate that wanted to kill my family, thinking they were immortal monsters like me. I remembered the _hate _and dark satisfaction when Sandy beheaded him.

I remembered the intense anger and fear when I fought with everything I had two years ago to kill a man who had happened upon me in the middle of resetting. He had caught me unaware while I was waking up, and had knocked me unconscious. He had planned to steal me away and take me to someone as a gift, and I was completely defenceless, having already called Sandy out twice that day; my limit back then.

He had gotten me onto a ship by the time I woke up, and just as we started to set sail I had taken the man off guard just enough to sink my teeth into his jugular. My teeth weren't sharp enough to rip it out with ease like I'd seen animals do, but ripping my fingers into the bite wound and tearing it open further was enough.

Luckily the boat hadn't made it far by the time he bled out, and the swim back helped wash away the majority of his blood.

Those memories of my first kill were enough to turn the air around me colder and I knew I was successful in making my sand visible when Hisoka leaned forward and let out a breathless sound of interest. The sand was pouring through my fingers to pool onto my thighs.

I narrowed my eyes and imagined what I wanted it to do with more intent behind it, my darker emotions helping make the image sharper and more defined. The sand slowed, and started to just sit and float around my hands. Still not what I wanted, but it was progress. I chewed on my cheek again, barely blinking as I willed the sand to do what I wanted.

It didn't move.

The sand still surrounded my hands, but didn't do anything else. I was growing frustrated, but chewed harder to keep myself in check. I could feel it buzzing in the back of my head; I was so _close._ I just needed to go about this a different way.

I took a deep breath and stopped chewing on my cheek when I started to taste copper. I stopped imagining the end result of what I wanted, and instead broke down the process into baby steps. _Cling to my hands like sand on wet skin._

The sand compacted a bit tighter around my hands, but still hung loosely. I changed tactics and went as simple as I could. I held up my right pointer finger and focused my sand to just that hand. To my delight, it listened without any trouble, leaving my left hand bare in Hisoka's pale one.

_Cling to my finger. _The sand flowed towards my index and _finally _clung to my skin like I wanted it to. _Now, extend at the tip into a point. _My finger looked like it was encased in grains of obsidian, and I could see the grains shifting ever so slightly in a tightly packed formation, never staying still. They didn't extend from my finger like I wanted, though.

Okay, then. _Sharpen at the tip. _It didn't noticeably change, only continued to shift around my finger like a second skin. I kind of expected it to feel more uncomfortable than it did, but I could hardly feel the hard grains as they shifted around my skin. They felt softer than regular sand should. I frowned in consternation at the wall I hit. I was doing so well...what happened?

...Now that I thought about it, Hisoka's cards didn't look any different when he sharpened them. Well, I couldn't see his energy around them, but they didn't leave a wider exit wound when pulled out. When I took out the card from the ape's head it was exactly the same size and shape as the card. So he didn't try to create a bladed cover around it…

I studied my finger more closely. The sand was still shifting, and hadn't taken any bladed shape like I'd wanted. But…

I vaguely noticed that Hisoka was silent, but I could feel his attention was still on my progress. His body was trembling just a bit underneath me, but I couldn't care enough to find out what his problem was. I was nearing a breakthrough, and I wouldn't stop now that I was so close.

I carefully brought my finger down to my other hand. With bated breath, I slowly put the tip onto my open palm, and gasped when the tiny grains stung painfully into my skin. I quickly pulled it away and saw a tiny, bloody dot on my palm.

A smile spread across my face and I quickly dragged my finger across my palm, gently. The sharpened grains tore shallow cuts into my flesh, making me whine softly from the pain. Inwardly though, I wanted to laugh gleefully at the accomplishment. It was only a finger, but I figured out how to do what Hisoka does! Kind of.

I managed to make hundreds of grains of sand sharp as needles, and compacted so tightly together made it feel like a tiny blender was tearing through my skin. Such a wound can't kill someone, but _shit _did it hurt.

I drew my finger away again and stared at the bloody line my sand caused. Okay, so it worked well against flesh, but what about-

"Don't be so _greedy, _Guren~," Hisoka suddenly breathed into my ear, startling me out of my thoughts. He squeezed my bloody palm gently and turned it over so his hand covered mine. "Let me have a turn, too…"

Huh? "You want me to...hurt you?" I barely refrained from adding 'Are you crazy?' onto the end of that sentence, but figured it wasn't needed. Of _course _he as crazy.

"I want to feel the pain that made you make a cute sound~," He said, his breath caressing my face as he brought our cheeks together.

I rolled my eyes at the man. "Whatever. Just a heads up, it stings a lot." Without further ado, I dragged my finger across the back of his hand, a little more forcefully than when I experimented with myself.

Hisoka let out a deep groan and flexed his hand at the pain. I stopped just before reaching his thumb and pulled my finger away to see the result of my sand. He had a shallow bloody line the width of my finger across his pale skin, only more blood welled up from his cut because of the added pressure.

Heh, oops.

I was worried I took my petty revenge too far, but the lingering kiss to the corner of my mouth stopped the budding apology in its tracks. Along with my concentration.

**XXX**

After I got my blood pressure back down, I used my shrouded finger to play a few games of tic tac toe with Hisoka on the floor to practice _and _experiment with the limit of the sand. I lost my aura of hate and rage that allowed me to make the sand visible, so to the redhead it looked like it was just my regular skin carving letters into the stone floor, which was _awesome._

In the middle of our third game, a door opened up out of nowhere. Hisoka and I turned towards it, expecting the third arrival, but instead it was Mr. Beans with a cart full of food and two separate pitchers of drinks. One was obviously water, but I wasn't sure what the orange stuff was. Maybe juice?

The sight alone caused my stomach to grumble loudly, reminding me that I hadn't eaten anything for way too long.

I flew off the magician's lap and skipped over to the little bean assistant. I gave him a little wave. "Hello, again! Thanks for bringing snacks." I said with a bright smile.

"Good evening, dear! Please help yourself to whatever you would like. I've got three different types of sandwiches, some potato salad, water and orange juice to drink. Also, there's a bathroom just over there," He pointed to a door ten feet away from where we'd been sitting. "You just need to press on the wall and the door will slide open, and can't be opened again until you come back out."

Now that he mentioned it, I _really _needed to pee. I should do that before I ate or drank anything. I gave the spread a forlorn glance, silently telling it that I'll be back to devour it in a minute. I looked back at Beans to thank him again, but he wasn't looking at me anymore. He was staring above my head with a smile that didn't look as genuine as the one he gave me.

I didn't have to look to know that Hisoka had joined us.

"Hm, what impeccable timing. I'm feeling famished~." He drawled stepping close enough to bump his abdomen against the back of my head as he reached over me to grab a paper plate and starting casually filling it up, like he wasn't practically draped over me to do it.

I grunted in annoyance and slid away from him. "I'll grab a plate when I get back." I stated, walking quickly towards the bathroom. My cheeks were starting to heat up with embarrassment. I pressed against the door shaped panel on the wall, and watched the wall slid open to reveal a small bathroom. I quickly slipped in and the door closed behind me, locking shut.

Thank god for small mercies.

I did my business quickly, while imagining shaving the stupid clown bald. It was one thing to be weird and creepy when we were alone, but he didn't have to be like that around everyone else! I didn't want others to see him touch me so intimately.

I went over to the sink to wash my hands and did a double take when I saw my reflection.

_Holy crap...have I looked this messed up this whole time…?_

I looked like I got jumped and beat up by a group of thugs, not just one man. Not all of the damage was caused by Hisoka, but all that was _visible _was.

I glared at the bruises and dried blood caking my face and set to cleaning up as best as I could. My face wasn't the only thing that needed tending to, but it was what I was most worried about. The boys were going to freak out when they saw my state, especially Gon.

I swallowed thickly and a pit formed in my tummy. _God...What am I going to tell him when he asks about what happened? I can't tell him the truth, he might try to fight Hisoka, and I'm not letting him anywhere _near _that sadistic perv if I could help it!_

I grabbed a rag and quickly dried my hands and face, ready to march out there and threaten Hisoka to not touch me anymore. He's taken it too far and I couldn't risk him casually kissing me in front of my brother.

This had to stop.

I pressed on the door again and went over what I would say to Hisoka in my head as the door slid open. I needed to be firm, let him know that I was serious. I needed to tell him that I was uncomfortable with his constant touching, and I didn't want him be all..._creepy _in front of Gon and the others.

They couldn't find out. The boys would probably attack him, especially Gon. I didn't know about Killua, but I knew _my _boys wouldn't fare well against Hisoka. He would hurt them just as bad as me or worse.

I walked back out into the room and found the cart still parked in the middle of the room, but sans Beans. Hisoka was sitting at our spot again with a plate of food and a cup of water. His card tower collapsed in a pile at his side.

_Huh, why did he knock it over? It must have taken him a while to build…_

That reminds me… "Ne, Hisoka."

He glanced up mid bite of his sandwich, an inquisitive look in his eyes. "Have you kept track of how long we've been here? I don't feel like I napped for that long," I asked while loading my plate up with food.

"Hm...we've been here for around five and a half hours. You were asleep for a little over two hours~," He informed me.

I balanced my plate on the corner of the cart and went to pour myself some juice. "Huh. Feels like it's been longer…" I mumbled to myself and bent over to grab a cup on the bottom shelf of the cart. I picked up the plastic cup and thought about asking if he was telling me the truth, but honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if he could keep track of the time down to the minute by now.

After seeing him chop someone's head off with just his hand, I couldn't imagine that the magician _couldn't _do.

Suddenly a chill ran down my spine. It was the same feeling I got when Hisoka and I were going through the tower; when I was sure he was watching me. I threw a glance over my shoulder to try to catch him in the act, but the magician had his eyes closed as he ate his food.

I glared. I just _knew _he'd been staring at me. I calmly grabbed a spoon from the cart, not taking my eyes off the man. Then, I hurled it at his head as hard as I could.

He didn't even open his eyes as he effortlessly caught the utensil before it beaned him in the face. Bastard.

When he opened his eyes again, I met his gaze with my Gon smile. "Hold that for me, won't you? I have a lot to carry over." I said, acting as if I never intended to do him harm by spoon.

"Okay~," He drawled, twirling the spoon between his fingers with flourish.

I kept up my facade as I carried my plate and drink over to where he sat, still staring at me with knowing, amused eyes.

I plopped down next to him two arms lengths away and held my hand back out for the spoon. "Thanks."

Hisoka smirked over at me and passed me the spoon, making sure to do it so our hands touched as much as possible. I let out a short sigh, and figured that I might as well as talk to him about boundaries now. "Hey, I need you to stop touching me so much. Especially around other people."

I didn't look at him as I said it. Instead I sat my plate onto my lap and took a big bite out of my turkey sandwich.

"Oh~? And why is that?" He asked, unperturbed.

I gave him the side eye, already expecting that kind of reaction. "Because it's _weird, _obviously. And unwanted." I stated before scooping up a spoonful of potato salad and shoving it in my mouth.

I didn't sense any bloodlust from him, but I could feel _something _on the edge of my senses. I knew not looking at him while I did this was risky, but I honestly wasn't sure if I'd be able to say it without losing my nonchalance.

"That's pretty funny, actually~," Hisoka said in a honeyed tone, sounding closer.

My muscles tensed automatically, but I still didn't look over at him. I focused on getting the last of my sandwich down instead. "Why's that?" I asked, unintentionally repeating his early question while grabbing my drink to wash down the last of my dry but yummy sandwich.

Suddenly, his breath was hot in my ear and one of his large hands were on my thigh, just centimeters below my shorts. "I don't recall hearing you complaining~," His voice had a lower quality to it now, making it positively drip with seduction.

It took all of my self control not to jump away or worse, lash out violently. Both at his actions _and _his words. "I complained the _whole time!_" I retorted, my own voice incredulous. _Was he serious?!_

Hisoka let out a low chuckle before he _bit _down on my earlobe _hard. _"Ouch!" Leaning my head away did no good; the sadistic clown held my ear between his teeth tight. "T-this is what I'm _talking _about, you cree-_eep!"_ My venomous rebuke turned into a shocked squeak when he suddenly sucked my stinging earlobe into his mouth.

_Hot and wet and oh my god…_

I tried to ask him what the hell his malfunction was, but instead said, "Guh?" My empty cup clattered to the floor and when I braced a hand down next to me I felt something cold and goopy touch my pinky, but couldn't for the life of me think farther than Hisoka's mouth on my ear.

My face was hot again; apparently it's default temperature when Hisoka touched me recently. I swept my hand up to his neck from where it was pushing at his chest, hoping the threat would make him release my poor ear. To my surprise, he let my hand grip the exposed bit of his neck above the pink bands protecting it. My short fingers could barely wrap around it, but I still squeezed hard and dug in my thumb, hoping to choke the bastard even a little bit.

His chuckle vibrated against my sweaty palm.

"See what I mean~?" He whispered after releasing my poor abused ear, and gripped my waist with his free hand so he could pull me closer to him. "You seem to like my 'unwanted' affections…" He moved the hand off of my thigh and held the wrist of my hand that was choking him in a hold that was surprisingly gentle for him. "You even flirt back," he cooed before swiping his tongue up the length of my neck.

_What? Of course not...I don't! I'm _not! _I was choking him, trying to push him away! _I couldn't say what I was thinking, though. My body was heating up, and my tongue felt heavy as lead in my mouth. I could only try to breathe deeply as Hisoka firmly turned my head to face him, fed up with my avoided eye contact.

I...I _did_ like this…

I was still uncomfortable with the strangeness of his actions, especially when he got sexual, but deep down...I really liked how he made me feel. I really liked _him._

Really, really liked. Hisoka.

My eyes widened as I stared into his gleaming ones, and I instantly knew that _he _knew.

_He knows...he knows that I have a…_

I didn't spare any further thought and did what came naturally to me in a panic.

I squeezed his throat as hard as I could and focused sand to my index finger again with effort, my intent to do harm cooling the air around us instantly. I didn't want to kill him, but I had to convince him that he was _wrong! _That _I _was wrong!

I barely had my shrouded finger dug into his neck for a second before he wrenched my hand away in a bruising grip. Our faces were inches apart, our breath intermingling. Hisoka was sporting a slight flush now, looking at me like more hungrily than any glance he spared his dinner minutes ago.

I'm sure my feelings were plain to see, just like they apparently have been this whole damn time in this god-forsaken tower.

On a whim, I willed my sand to cover my whole hand and bared my teeth at the magician, ready to beat this memory out of his pretty head, when my sand suddenly dissolved into nothing and white spots appeared before my eyes.

I blinked in confusion and weariness hit me like a truck, or like Hisoka's fist.

"Guren?" I heard Hisoka ask distantly, but it was like I was underwater. _What's...what's happening?_

My eyes shut of their own accord and the last thing I heard before I succumbed to darkness was, "Oh dear...~"

**XXX**

**(Hisoka)**

"Gittarackur, applicant #301, is the third to pass. Total time, twelve hours and two minutes."

"I figured you'd already crossed the finish line." Illumi said from my right, his disguise creaking with every syllable he uttered.

My eyes didn't leave the little apple in my lap, but I gave the assassin a hum of acknowledgement.

He made a sound of curiosity. "Did you find a new toy to play with?"

"Mhm~," I twirled a lock of her dark hair around my finger. "An interesting little toy...We played a little before and she got me pretty good~." I sighed happily. I wasn't planning on divulging her abilities to Illumi just yet, but he knew without me saying that she used Nen if she managed to really injure me in a fight.

The poor thing had used up too much of her newly developing Nen while training earlier, which was normal for someone who hasn't even fully opened all of her aura nodes yet. The strangest thing about her is that she _has _somehow opened up most of her nodes, but not enough to let her aura seep out naturally. The only aura I've seen from her so far has been that strange obsidian sand and her Nen beast.

Another phenomenon of Guren was that her aura didn't wisp from her body like a regular person who was unaware of Nen. And yet, she could summon up her black sand-like matter and 'Sandy'.

Everything about her ability screamed that she was a conjurer, but I wasn't too sure. I had her pegged for either an enhancer or a fellow transmuter, but she's confounded me once again. Now I'm thinking that she _had _to be a specialist, or something else entirely.

The mystery around the girl only drew me in more.

When she collapsed, I thought about playing with her a little more to satiate some of my own curiosity. I decided against it in the end, wanting her to be fully awake and aware when I did, eager to see what delicious reactions she'll give me. Also, I wasn't sure how much our voyeurs would tolerate before they decide to take action.

Getting off with her in my lap was on a whim, really. A whim I couldn't find myself regretting. It took the edge off, and revealed some more insight to how much my little Guren was willing to endure without a fight.

I chuckled inwardly as I recalled her rigidness in my lap, as if staying still would make the situation disappear. The action showed her youth; a youth I tended to forget when I gazed into those crimson eyes that shone with maturity. It was a similar look that graced the slender blonde in her group of boys.

So, when she passed out, I situated her back onto my lap. Honestly, she just fit so well there. The only place I imagine I'd like her more was underneath me, preferably in a bed like I wanted back on the airship.

I spread my legs so she could rest comfortably between them, upper body resting on my lap and her arms flung over my thighs. Her head rested on my stomach.

Before Illumi could say anything else, an obnoxious shout echoed through the room from behind another closed door. Seconds later, the door slid open to reveal the ninja boy.

"Hanzo, applicant #294, is the fourth to pass."

He slid into the room and pumped his fists into the air. "All right! I'm the first to finish!"

The announcement then caught up to him, and he looked over at us in disbelief. "Total time, twelve hours and three minutes."

"No!" He shouted, grabbing his bald head in dismay. "I can't believe this…"

I didn't bother to spare anymore of my attention on the boy, and went back to playing with Guren's silky locks. For hair so short, it was so thick. Some strands would stay straight and spiked, but others, like the hair wrapped around my finger, stayed curled once I let it go. It seems like everything about this girl was puzzling, even down to her hair.

I let out a low chuckle and tugged her a bit farther up my lap. _Well, everything but her attraction towards me~_

"Hey, is that Guren?" An obnoxiously loud voice asked. So loud that my little apple's brows furrowed in her sleep. I smoothed a finger over the little wrinkle. She's only been asleep for half an hour, she needed her full night's rest after the day she's had.

"It is! What did you do to her!" That same voice demanded, and my smirk dropped as I looked up at the hostile looking young man. His eyes were taking in all the cuts and bruises marking Guren's visible flesh, his glower getting darker with every injury he discovered.

My mood darkened the longer he looked at her.

"Would you mind keeping it down? It's past her bedtime~." I said lowly, deceptively jovial. I kept my eyes trained on his reddening face and ran a hand through Guren's hair, both a taunt and a soothing gesture to ease her back into her deep slumber.

The boy actually dared to step closer, reaching a hand out towards Guren's leg as if to pull her away from me.

A mistake.

I didn't lose control of my bloodlust like with the rude man who had bumped into me yesterday; I was sure killing in between phases would be grounds for disqualification, depending on the examiners mood. Instead of physically dealing with Hanzo's blatant disrespect by cutting his hands off, I attacked him with my aura.

My malicious intent froze him in his tracks. I watched his face grow pale and his eyes grow wide in fear. His eyes darted from Guren towards me, and once our eyes connected, I made sure to amp up my bloodlust.

_That's right, boy. You can't save her...you can barely save yourself~._

The young ninja abandoned Guren and fled to the far side of the room. I withdrew my aura and turned my attention back towards my lap once the annoying fly finally buzzed off.

I wrapped my arms around her and interlaced my fingers just under her developing bust, content to just hold her and meditate for a while. When I checked my phone earlier I saw that it was late in the evening, so she probably won't wake up until morning.

My mind wandered again to thoughts of Guren. How fun it will be to see her grow! I couldn't wait for her to ripen. Fighting her to the death will be glorious; One that I might not win unscathed if I underestimate her. Then, once her brother learns about her death, he'll come right to me for revenge, giving me another good fight.

_Yes...once Guren's reached her full potential, I'll have to make sure little Gon has too by then~. He will most likely come for me with the intent to kill once he finds out about his precious sister. I'll be dreadfully disappointed if he doesn't meet my standards by then._

A smile grew across my face and I trembled a bit at the future battles. I could hardly stand to wait! She was nearly irresistible to tear into as she was, but just the thought of plunging my hand into her chest and watching those beautiful eyes widen in shock made my heart beat faster. Maybe then, she'll finally show fear as I take her life and her heart stops beating in my hand.

I let out a deep moan from deep within my chest, just barely smothered. I'm sure Illumi heard it from where he stood with his exceptional hearing, but no matter. He knew what I was about by now.

_I ran my thumb over the head of my dick as I slid a hand into Guren's shorts. She tried to stop me, but her nails digging into my skin only turned me on more. I groaned as my desire grew hotter and ignored her silent plea._

_I heard her breath catch and she let out a little choked squeak when I started to play with her. I made sure to go underneath her thin underwear to feel her heated flesh. I grinned at what I discovered._

_"Mm...you're so wet for me," I moaned into her ear and dragged my middle finger up her slit, the bare and slick flesh quivering for my touch._

I swallowed and pressed Guren a little closer, my new erection rubbing between her shoulder blades pleasurably.

_I sat her on my lap once again, having already worked her into needy mess with just my hand. Guren had forgotten all about where we were, and whatever worries she had. She whimpered my name when I dipped a finger as far as I could inside her virgin pussy without breaking her hymen. I groaned her name back when she moved her hips, unintentionally rubbing her ass against my hard dick._

My fantasies changed a bit, a scene coming to mind that made my breath catch.

_I had her shorts down to her thighs, leaving her lower half completely exposed to my hungry eyes and the eyes to the hunters that were monitoring the room. Nobody came to stop me from violating her, were they getting off to watching as much as I was to being voyeured?_

_I still had her back to me, but now I had my fingers in her bloodied mouth and her head tilted up to look at me as I moved her body over my cock over and over again. Her eyes were wet and glassy from the pain of my abrupt penetration and from the pleasure of being filled completely by me._

_I got a little carried away when I first entered her; Guren was tighter and wetter than anyone I'd fucked before, and I ended up giving her new bruises and cuts from holding her too enthusiastically. My little apple didn't let me without some fight, either. She bit my fingers hard enough to make them bleed, and jabbed her hand into the bloody wound on my shoulder._

_I had her seated on me completely, and my eyes rolled back in pleasure every time I slammed her back down. Her cries and the head of my dick hitting her womb driving me to the edge faster and faster…_

I took a deep breath and forced myself to stop when I felt Illumi's displeased aura clash with mine. I opened my eyes a bit and saw that the poor ninja was a nervous wreck across the room. Outwardly he only looked sweaty and pensive, but his fear was dense and heavy throughout the room.

Almost as heavy as Illumi's irritation.

My lips twitched up into a smile.

_Oops, guess I went a little too far~_.

I reigned my aura back in, relieving the other two men of my lust. The only female in the room continued to sleep with a peaceful look on her face, unaware of my desires, of the erection digging into her back.

_Mm...I've worked up quite the problem~..._ I shifted and bit my lip at the wonderful friction. My eyes slid over to the panel hiding the bathroom. I needed to use the restroom and clean up the wound on my shoulder, anyway. I could relieve myself while I'm there. The only concern is…

I looked back down at Guren. I didn't really want to leave her alone, even for a few minutes. I didn't think she would be in any danger while I was gone, but I didn't want to risk Illumi getting curious or Hanzo suddenly getting brave and stupid.

No, Guren wasn't leaving my sight. Not until her brother arrived, anyway. _If _he arrived. No, surely little Gon would pass this phase, just as little Killua and those other two boys will.

I smiled and carefully settled the girl onto the floor so I could get up. Not for the first time, I was happy for my choice in pants, as the loose fabric made it easier to hide my erection. I picked Guren up and held her against my chest like I did through the swamp.

"Where are you going?" Illumi asked as I passed him.

"Oh, we won't be long, _Gittarackur. _We'll be sure not to hog the bathroom for too long~!" I sang, holding Guren up with one arm as I opened the door with my other. I twiddled my fingers in a wave at the constipated looking ninja as the door closed.

I sat Guren down so that she was leaning against the wall next to the sink. I palmed myself through my pants as I leered down at her, fantasies building up in my thoughts once more. I wasn't going to fuck her, but her current state was more tempting than I thought it would be here in this small, isolated bathroom.

I pushed my pants down to my ankles and knelt over her, my bare legs on either side of her tan ones. At full height, she was half my own. Once I moved her so that she was just a little more slouched against the wall, my weeping cock was level with her face without much discomfort on my part. I stared down at her pretty eyebrows and soft lips and full lashes as I pleasured myself just inches away.

_We were back in the first room of the tower. Instead of dislocating just her thumb, I dislocated every finger on both hands. Guren had that wild grin on her face, no longer hiding the pain she felt _or _the madness within. She continued to fight, even calling forth her Nen demon to fight me off of her. I dispatched of it with a quick jab to the head, loving the shock that colored her ruby eyes, but still no fear._

I licked my lips and moved my hand faster and harder, barely resisting rubbing her lips with the tip of my dick.

_I kept her down on the table with a hand on her neck and quickly got her shorts undone and down her legs, leaving her bare ass and pussy exposed to the cool air. She kicked at me desperately, but her defiance only excited me more._

_She had a tan line where her panties were, and it made me curious to see if her tits were a few shades paler as well. I pushed the curiosity aside and focused on what was already presented to me instead. I ran my fingers through her folds and bit and nibbled at her ass cheeks, leaving marks. _

My breathing was getting quicker and that familiar tingle grew stronger at the base of my spine. I was almost there…

_I entered her slowly, delighting in her naughty mouth, hissing at me with venomous words that would take most aback to hear from a little girl. I liked it, it was part of Guren's charm. I still spanked her for it, though. Her already abused ass getting more red, while her pussy got wetter. She didn't think she wanted this, but I would show her how good pain felt!_

_When I was all the way in, I set a soft pace, slow and deep. Once I had her begging for more, I would fuck her like we both wanted. I would be her first to take her, the first to make her cum around a cock. Then, when she's still riding the waves of her first orgasm, I'll pull out and fuck her ass, too. I won't stop until she forgets everything else but my name and the pleasure I made her feel. I'll make sure she begs me not to stop._

_She'll beg for me to fuck her ass, fuck her pussy, she'll beg for me to come inside her and fill her up and she'll beg me to wrap my hand around her throat until I-_

"_Ah, fuck~!_" I groaned out quietly as my balls tightened without much warning. The thought of choking the life out of her and _finally _seeing her fear for her life sent me to the edge. Seconds later, I was there; white hot pleasure filled me as my love came shooting out and all over Guren's face. I didn't close my eyes through it, my orgasm extending seeing my cum all over her pretty cheeks and dripping down to her lips.

I breathed heavily as I came down from my high, having enough sense through my pleasured haze to not lean on my little apple and accidentally crush her. I grabbed some toilet paper cleaned myself off before getting up. I pulled my underwear and pants back up and looked down at the mess on Guren's face, trying to commit it to memory.

I blinked smiled bemused myself. _Ah, of course. Silly me~!_

I pulled my phone out of my pocket and tapped on the screen until my camera was open. I quickly snapped a few pictures, making sure my hand was in one of them as I rubbed some cum into the skin of her cheeks like lotion.

_There, now I'll never forget this moment~. _I made sure to make back-up copies as well, in case something happened to my phone during the rest of the exams.

Finally, I picked little Guren up and sat her on the sink. I grabbed one of the three rags laying by the faucet and wet out with warm water before cleaning off her face. I swept her hair back as I wiped the rag across her skin.

Once I was done, I gave her unresponsive lips a light peck. "There, good as new~!" Well, maybe not new. Her face was still covered in bruises and abrasions, but really, it didn't take any of her beauty away. She was going to grow up to be a beautiful woman.

I sat her back down into the earlier spot on the ground and went to piss while I could. Who knows what the next phase will bring? I planned on using a working toilet while I could.

Once I was done, I washed my hands in the sink and took the time to also look at the wound Guren gave me. I took off both of my shirts and cleaned the two gashes up a bit. I moved my arm around experimentally, grinning at the different pains it gave me to do so.

_If I had been just a second or two too late, it might have been deep enough to do irreparable damage to my arm or nick my artery~._

I stared longingly down at Guren again. _"Oh, Guren. If you keep spoiling me like this, I might not be able to control myself~..._

I put my shirts back on and pulled out my travel sized makeup container, wanting my face to look fresh for whatever came next. I washed away the old paint from my face before reapplying more. I expertly drew a star and teardrop on my cheeks once again before adding a little subtle flair around my eyes. I didn't wear eyeshadow or glitter often with my daily look, but I found myself wanting to see if Guren would notice the difference.

So I added a barely noticeable amount of gold glitter around my eyes and applied some light eyeliner to make my eye color pop out even more.

I smiled at the end result. Perfect.

I hoisted Guren back up into my arms and took off her shirt to check her stab wound. Her nipples poked out through her white bra, but with effort, I ignored them in favor of her most serious wound.

_Really, that boy should be glad that Guren killed him the way she did, _I thought as I redid the bandage so it was more secure around the little stab wound. _His death would have been a lot more painful and drawn out if it had been me~._

I picked my newest toy back up and finally went to leave the bathroom. _She's mine, and nobody tries to kill her before I'm done with her without suffering a _very _painful death~._

**XXX**

**Ugh. Sorry again if Hisoka seems out of character. He's starting to get obsessed, and his lust for blood is starting to mix with his lust for Guren. Idk when I'll write more Hisoka POV, but I just wanted to get his thoughts out there so far, and man are they just FUCKED.**

**Thanks for reading, I'll try to get the next one out quicker! **

**Ja ne.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Fuuuccckkkkk.**

**Sorry for the wait, but the time between June and December is a busy af time for me. I have deathdays, birthdays, holidays and of course work keeping me from doing much else.**

**I've been writing this chapter little by little throughout the months, and trust me, your reviews and dm's have been helping me with my determination to get this out faster for you guys. Seriously, thank you! This chapter is as long, but the next few will come out much quicker than this one did.**

**I'm going to be honest, and please don't hate me, but another reason why I haven't been writing as much has been because I've been playing the new pokemon game since launch with my boyfriend. Not only have we now beaten the game and completed the pokedex, but we have a few shinies under our belts so I won't be as distracted with that anymore. Heh heh, sorry?**

**To answer questions in some of the reviews: **

**Natalia: Your reviews still kill me, thank you for gracing me with them xD. Now, the idea is to have Guren be like a whole new **_**species **_**with her abilities, hence the name, Ajin. It literally means demi human in japanese. I'm writing her like ajins are seen in the Ajin anime/manga, or like the ants are seen in HxH. Now, saying that, this **_**is **_**still HxH, so her nen is going come into play with her ajin abilities as well. As far as I know ( I haven't read ajin in a really long time; Beastars is my life T_T) ajins can't normally manipulate the sand to do what Guren did last chapter, so that's an example of how I'm merging them. There won't be any conditions or restrictions to Sandy, but her nen **_**is **_**going to be exotic and mysterious mainly for how it merges with her abilities and doesn't do the most common functions like everybody else. Her revive time will **_**also **_**be affected by nen. Hope that clears some stuff up for ya!**

**Guest: I'm shortening her revive time based on how often she's done it over the years. It started out at the regular 3 minutes, but now its been cut down to about two. The more often she dies, the more her revive time will shorten and Sandy will evolve with her.**

**Noface: Yes, HxHxR was one of the first fics i've read that feature an oc, and I'm glad I did because when I was playing around with the idea of a twin sister, my first choice for a name was Gin! I shipped her and Hisoka like the freak that I am but oh well. **

**RainbowMaze: You came in late, but your love for my story is what gave me the final push I needed to proofread and edit this chapter so I could get it posted. You fuck, I love you. **

**Oh, before I forget! I've made a playlist on YouTube titled after this fic with all the songs that inspire me to write about Guren and Hisoka. There's some that are just for each character individually, and some for the ship. Eh, to me its all for the ship but if you wanna listen, take what you will from it. The playlist is under the handle Ramen Starr.**

**Well, here's the long awaited chapter! Nothing crazy, but it **_**is **_**kind of the calm before the storm.**

**XXX**

When I started to gain consciousness again, most of my aches and pains were dulled down, and I was being cuddled by a giant octopus.

...No, that couldn't be right. It didn't feel wet or suction-like. Or cold and squishy. It was warm, hard and soft all at once, wrapped in a sweet scent that was vaguely familiar. The limbs wound around my torso were possessively constricting, aiding to my first assumption that a hungry octopus caught me in its tentacles. No, these were heavily muscled arms, with large, dangerous hands _pawing and scratching away at me as they ran over my body._

That last thought blew away the last of my exhaustion and I woke up slowly. The first thing my eyes locked onto when they peeked open was the gaze of two men I didn't know from a couple feet away. One was sitting down, while the other was older and standing just next to the former. The men weren't looking at me directly, but were definitely giving me the side-eye. They looked uncomfortable and nervous as they gave me concealed looks of pity.

I didn't understand. _Why would they look at me like that? I know I look pretty beat up, but they look like I'm just seconds away from getting eaten alive and they can't do anything to he-_

I was sitting on something. I was sitting on something _breathing. _

And just like that, it all came rushing back. My eyes snapped wide open and I tried to push myself out of Hisoka's (because of course, it couldn't be anybody _but _him…) lap. He must've known that I was already awake, because the arms that were already wrapped around my back tightened even more. I was barely a centimeter away before I was crushed back against him, chest to chest.

My smarting face knocked painfully into his unrelenting shoulder, and my face burned up with fury and humiliation. He had me sitting in his lap how I imagined a father would for their sleeping innocence of the action was tainted by his hands tracing across the skin of my back under my shirt.

I clenched my teeth to stop them from sinking into his shoulder. _That son of a bitch...he's doing the exact opposite of what I told him just to spite me! _I knew there were other people in the room with us now, more than the two men to my right. I could smell them; the many scents of over ten people were here, all witness to-_oh God! How long have I been unconscious?!_

"Hisoka!" I growled, low enough so only he could hear me. If he did anything to me while I was asleep so help me…

"_Mm, _you're _finally _awake." Hisoka responded just as low, but when I moved my head to look up at him, he had his eyes closed. He also looked...different? "You've kept me _very _bored, little Guren~."

_Yeah, that's why I'm worried. _"How long was I out?" I asked, subtly testing to see if he would let me move away yet. I moved my legs with a wince; they must've been bent at the knee for too long from how stiff they feel. I only had time to flex when he squeezed his arms around me so tight the breath was knocked out of me with a squeaky wheeze.

"Oh, for a while...there's only about ten minutes until this phase is officially over~." He answered, not acknowledging that he was on the verge of squeezing me to death. The magician actually sounded pretty miffed. Not really angry like the time I ignored him, but _definitely _not a happy bunny.

"Well, that's not my...wait, I've been sleeping for over _seventy hours?!"_ I exclaimed a little louder, jolting my head up from his shoulder to stare at him in shock.

Hisoka finally opened his eyes a sliver to look back at me. His lips upturned a bit at my expression. _Seriously, something's different. What about his face is different? _"Mhm~. That's what happens when you push yourself too far, little girl." He hummed, and moved his golden orbs down my body, making me remember _why _I overextended myself.

I swallowed, my throat as dry as sand. _That's right...he was being creepy-touchy again, and I tried to force my sand to do more than it could at the time. Normally, it just doesn't respond when that happens, though. Did I really push my abilities that far?_

Well, no matter now. I was still wounded, but most of my lesser wounds were scabbed over and healing, and my throat felt good as new aside from being parched. I knew from experience that Sandy could be summoned multiple times again, so at least he could be counted on for whatever the next phase was going to be. I was tempted to just let him shadow Gon just for some peace of min-

My head whipped around to finally take in the rest of the room, eyes frantic. There seemed to be about twenty people that passed, and almost all of them looked scuffed up and weary besides Pins and Needles and Hanzo. Actually, Hanzo looked morose as hell, but not injured or tired in the slightest. The most important thing I noticed, was that _Gon and the others weren't here._

I cleared my throat and turned back to face Hisoka. He eyed me with a knowing look. "Don't worry, little Gon will be here~" He gave me a cheery little smile, instantly creeping me out. "He has _way _too much potential not to~."

Unbidden, some of the panic drained away at the magician's words. _Yeah, he's right. Gon wouldn't die here. Or fail. Hopefully he's with Killua, so at least he'll have someone to watch his back. _The fact that it should've been _me _with Gon instead of the white haired boy sent a pang through my chest. _Everything's gone from bad to worse since we've been separated. I need my brother here. I need away from Hisoka._

Starting now. I tried to move again, but couldn't budge an inch and Hisoka only gave me a _look._ I glared with all my might, sick of his possessiveness. His lips stretched into his regular smirk in the face of my ire. "Let me go, Hisoka." I said calmly, my tone not matching the boiling anger building up in my chest. He didn't own me, I wasn't his fruit, and _I didn't have a crush on him, dammit!_

"Why should I~?" He asked, his voice just _barely _holding his usual tone. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he was wanting a confrontation. I would probably be glad to give him one if we were still alone, but not now that the rest of the competition would see my abilities. Plus, I _really _needed to go to the bathroom.

"Because I asked you to." I snapped, wanting to follow up with a _you asshole._ "I need to go to the bathroom really bad, and stretch my legs out."

He hummed at that, the aggressive gleam fading from his eyes. _Thank God._ Hisoka eventually sighed and let me go. "Don't be too long, little apple~. The next phase will start in a few minutes."

The second his arms finally dropped, I leaped out of his lap as fast as I could. I wobbled a bit at first, my legs feeling numb. I quickly shook the feeling off and stretched out my legs, making sure to be careful and not pull at the stab wound on my side. It didn't feel too bad anymore, but I didn't want to risk opening it up again. The leg that was sliced by Togari's sword hurt the most at the moment, and a quick glance at the cut showed that the scab _did _get pulled open when I got out of Hisoka's lap so fast. I _tsked _at that, knowing I would have to walk very carefully on it so it would heal faster. Once I felt like everything was loosened up properly again, I headed towards the bathroom.

I felt Hisoka's eyes on me as I limped away, a feeling I was unfortunately getting used to, but what was worse was feeling the rest of the rooms eyes on me too.

I snuck a few glances around to see half of the room glaring at me with looks of hostile distrust. The other half looked nervous and uncertain. My eyes narrowed as I swept my eyes towards Pins and Needles, and was relieved to see that his eyes were closed. Well, at least _someone_ has better things to do than stare at me!

I quickly entered the bathroom and did my business. I washed my hands and face once I was done, and scooped up handfuls of water to drink. On my way back out of the bathroom,I paused at the door, hesitating to open it. It was nice in here, all by myself with some peace and quiet. I knew I couldn't just stay here for the rest of the phase, even if there was only a few minutes left. I had to be out there and wait for Gon. I had made it this far, I could handle Hisoka for a little bit longer.

Still, when my hand reached out to press against the panel, it hovered just in front of it, trembling against my will. I grasped it with my other hand and cradled it against my chest, like I'd seen Gon do for small, frightened animals. My nerves were just...a _mess._

I've never felt as off kilter as I do right now. Even when I woke up from my first death I was more calm and accepting of what my life was than at this moment. My whole body hurt all over, especially my abdomen, my wounded leg made it so I couldn't run, and I couldn't kill myself to reset like I normally would or I'd break my promise to myself to be normal for Gon...

_**Ba-dum…**_

Slowly but surely, the constant pain was wearing me down. The constant attention from the beautiful murder-clown was also tearing at my sanity.

_**Ba-dum…**_

I was freaking out about Gon's whereabouts and safety, and couldn't wait to see him again, but at the same time, I had no freaking clue what to say about my current condition _or _my current relationship with Hisoka.

_**Ba-dum ba-dum...**_

I just...didn't know what to _do._

_**Ba-dUM BA-DUM BADUM BADUMBADUM-**_

With a growl, I brought my hands up to my face with a loud _smack! _The fresh stinging pain on my cheeks was unwelcome, but needed. I felt my heart calm down, its harsh beating leaving my ears throbbing from it's staccato pace moments ago.

It wasn't like me to stress out so much! I would just do what I normally do, and wing it. I would try to keep the lies as seldom as possible, and just skip over the more incriminating details of my trip through the tower. Which will basically be the 90% of it that involved Hisoka and his pouty lips.

I slapped my hand onto the panel and strode back out into the room with my head held high. I glanced over towards where Hisoka was sitting and saw that his gaze was on something across the room. A quick glance to see what had his attention caused the heavy weight on my heart to lift and an elated grin to spread across my face.

"Gon!"

My brother quickly turned away from his conversation with Killua and Kurapika and lit up when he saw me. I noticed that the other boys looked relieved to see me too. That they were so worried about me actually made my chest tighten up with guilt. I honestly haven't given them much thought…

"Sis!" Gon cried, and rushed towards me. The only thing keeping me from tackling him to the ground in happiness was my injuries. Something he took notice of. "What happened, Guren? Did you have to fight prisoners, too?"

Wait, Gon had to have death matches too? "Yeah, we did. Did you and the others all go through the tower together?"

He nodded. "Mm! Killua, Leorio, Kurapika, Tonpa and me all got through it together! We thought you were right there with us, but when we turned back around, you were gone! Killua and me thought we heard you say something, but those flying things were making a lot of noise and Tonpa said you wanted to do it by yourself but _I _knew you wouldn't just ditch me like that-"

I grabbed ahold of my brothers shoulders and gave him a little shake. Gon's rambling halted to a stop and he took a deep breath. I couldn't help but smile at the silly expression on his face. Part of me was still disappointed and sad that I didn't get to pass the phase with the group, missing out on yet _another _adventure with my most precious person because of Hisoka, but I was glad to have him here again regardless.

"Wow, what happened to your face?!" I threw Killua an unimpressed look. "What? Have you _seen _your face lately? You look like someone messed you up!"

_No shit. _"Well, you would look like this too if you had to go through what I did! This phase _sucked!" _Killua's eyes widened as he flinched back when I threw my hands up into the air, nearly catching him in the face with my fingertips. "I got beat up! I had to go through annoying puzzles! I had to have death matches too! And worst of all, a stupid hunter with a grudge tried to kill me at the end! And even worse, _I didn't have my brother with me!" _I ended my hushed rant with a wail, hugging my Gon with all my might. Okay, so maybe I was closer to a mental breakdown then I thought…

"Sissy..._what_ did you say happened?" Gon asked lowly, hugging me just as tight, forgetting my ouchies.

"Let me take a look at you, Guren! You have cuts and abrasions everywhere!" Leorio demanded, his face more serious than I'd ever seen it. He claimed to be a teenager, but his tone held the authority of an adult at that moment.. I didn't argue, and let go of Gon to let him look me over, when suddenly a new door slid open, revealing bright sunlight.

This phase was finally over.

**XXX**

The fresh air outside felt great after being cooped up in that godforsaken prison/tower. One by one we exited, and I didn't let go of my brother's hand , he was acting normal and didn't try to brush aside my clingingness. In fact, he gripped my hand just as tightly as I did. Hopefully there would be time before the next phase for Leorio to properly patch me up. For now, I would just have to bear the boys' worried glares on top of my aches and pains until then.

"Ladies and gentlemen, congratulations on escaping Trick Tower." We all turned to face a short man with glasses and mohawk like hair near the edge of the cliff. In front of him was a narrow table with a box. "You only have the fourth and final phases remaining. The fourth phase will take place over there," he jabbed a thumb to point behind him, towards an island. "On Zevil Island."

"Now, I need you all to draw lots."

That brought up a murmuring from the crowd. "Lots?" One muttered. "What for?" The teen with the bow asked directly. The violet haired Hunter chuckled and smirked. "To determine who will hunt and who will be hunted." That made _all _of us pause. I couldn't help but feel excitement rise up and the idea of Gon and I being on an island together. We would breeze through this phase for sure, and whatever we had to hunt we would take out together!

"There are twenty-five numbered cards in here. In other words, the numbers correspond to all remaining applicant's ID numbers. Now, I need you each to draw-"

"Wait a minute!" Leorio interrupted. "There isn't an even amount of us here! Will one of us have two targets or something?"

Huh, that's a fair point. I forgot that there was an uneven amount of applicants left.

The man's smirk turned downright cruel, instantly putting me on guard. "Oh, I'll get to that soon enough. Now, as I was saying, I need you all to draw lots in the order you exited the tower and completed the third phase."

Oh.

The examiner gestured towards the box. "Will the first person come forward?"

I shook off my twin's hand and squared my shoulders. I walked over with as much confidence as I could muster up. I kept my eyes straight ahead, ignoring the sudden whispers that started once I stepped forward. I could feel all the eyes burning into my back once again, only this time Gon's burned the hottest. I cringed inwardly at the third degree I knew I was going to get once he got me alone.

Once I was in front of the table, I glanced up at the sadistic Hunter and swallowed in shock when I saw that he was giving me a leering look, his grin stretching to complete the creep of the year look. _And I thought Hisoka was holding that spot indefinitely. _I quickly dropped my gaze, not wanting to attract _another _one and reached into the box. I bit my lip in annoyance when my hand touched nothing, and cursed my shortness. I had to flex my toes to gain the extra centimeters just reach down into the box where the cards were. In front of everyone who, besides my family and friends, were sizing me up, coming to conclusions on how big of a threat I was, and how easy I would be to take out.

I _finally _reached one, and yanked it out with great relief, ready to get back to my brother. I saw that it was a blank, white card, with a red sticker covering the other side. I pondered what would be under there and walked back towards the crowd.

Two steps away from the table, the creepy examiner called, "Next participant,"

I glanced up from my perusal at the _louder _whispers that erupted. Not surprised, I saw Hisoka walking towards me. Well, not towards _me, _but to the table behind me. I wasn't planning on watching him walk towards me, but my eyes couldn't help but be glued when I saw the expression on his face.

He didn't look happy. There was no smile on his face, and his eyes were looking slightly more narrow. He looked serious. And annoyed. Not a good combination, especially when I ended up with a dislocated thumb the last time I'd seen him like this. When he was just a few feet away, he glanced down at me. I couldn't help but raise a brow in silent question.

His eyes swirled with something other than cold irritation and one of the corners of his lips turned up in amusement. _What the hell was funny?_

He must've read the question in my eyes, because just as he passed me he winked, answering my silent question. _Not._

I looked straight ahead again and met my brother's eyes. I smiled at him, but he didn't return it. He was looking extremely curious, and extremely concerned. I took my place beside him once again and watched as Hisoka retrieved is own card. I could feel the other boys' sneaking looks at me, but I ignored them all. I waited while the rest of the participants went and drew their cards, silent and anxious. They had to be close to figuring out that I got through the tower with Hisoka, and are coming to the conclusion that _he _was the one to give me most of my injuries.

I'd thought of at least a dozen excuses and white lies by the time it was time for the others to finally take their cards. By the time Leorio and Tonpa pulled the last ones from the box, I was feeling so much anxiety about my upcoming interrogation that whatever the upcoming phase held for us felt like nothing in comparison.

"Has everyone taken a card?" I tuned back in to my surroundings when I heard the proctor. "All right, go ahead and remove the sticker now."

The sound of multiple people peeling off their stickers fill the area. I took a calming breath and ripped the sticker off my card like it was a bandaid. Underneath the blood red sticker was a white surface with the number 294 printed on it. It looked like the same as our ID badges…

_Wait...don't tell me..._

I glanced up at the creepy proctor in trepidation. He met my eyes with another sadistic leer. "That number on your cards indicates your target."

The curious atmosphere froze, and people instantly started to cover their badges. I glanced down at my card again, but couldn't place who it belonged to. _Damn, the only numbers I remember were the boys, my own, and Hisoka's._

"The box you drew from has recorded which card each of you drew. This means that you're free to dispose of the cards if you wish. Your objective is to steal your target's ID badge."

_Oh, so we don't _have _to kill our targets. Thank god! _

One of the young men with the marks under their eyes shared similar thoughts apparently. He sighed out his relief that we weren't going to be killing each other off. The older looking one on the other hand; one of the smug ones that glared at me back in the waiting room quickly burst his bubble. "Killing our target and _then _taking the badge is much easier, bro."

The proctor nodded. "You may use any means you'd like to take your target's badge. Even kill." Shit.

The three started talking amongst themselves again, and I noticed just how quiet Gon was being. I glanced over to him and saw him staring down at his own card with apprehension. I nudged him in the arm, causing him to break out of his thoughts and look at me. "Who'd you get, bro? Do you recognize the number?" I asked, trying to steal a look.

He quickly covered the number so I couldn't see. "Oh, um, no. I know who it is, but I kind of want to keep it a secret?" He said, sounding unsure of his own answer. I gave him a deadpan stare. Yeah, right. I knew when Gon was lying. Why didn't he want to tell me? _Wait, was his target one of our little group of friends?_

"Attention please!" The proctor called, putting an end to the murmur of conversation that started up in the crowd. "Your target's ID badge is worth three points," he said while holding up three fingers. "Your own badge is also worth three points. All other badges are only worth a single point. You need _six _points to advance to the final phase. So while you're on Zevil Island, you _must _gather enough badges to total six points."

"So you can pass even if you never find your intended target…" I mumbled to Gon, hoping to help alleviate his worries about his own target.

"That is the condition for clearing the Hunter Exam's fourth phase." His eyes seemed to zero in on me again and I _swear_ his glasses shined maliciously. "As for the special circumstances concerning the odd amount of participants left...the ID badge of whomever finished the third phase first is worth _six points._"

I felt the blood drain from my face.

Gon gasped beside me, and Leorio let out a choked, "What?!" I felt more than saw the heated stares from everyone else, only ten times worse.

"You may not be aware, but two of you in the crowd pulled the same target out of the box. There were two cards with the same number. Furthermore, if you complete the fourth phase with nine points, six of those points _having _to be from the badge of the lucky participant to finish the tower first, you will get the chance to become a Hunter immediately after leaving Zevil Island without having to take the final phase at all."

I felt faint. My knees were going to go out, I just knew it. My skin was _crawling _from all the ill-intent aimed towards me from everyone around, save family and friends. I was so dead. So _screwed. _

I jumped when Gon grabbed hold of my clammy hand. I woodenly turned my head to look at him and saw worry heavy in his gaze. I'm sure my emotions were written all over my face.

I barely listened to the bastard of a proctor wish us luck, and just let Gon pull me along towards the ferry that would take us to the Island of hell. Killua, Leorio, and Kurapika came up beside us, and were quick to box me in, hiding me from the view of everyone else. I felt like I could breathe a little easier with them with me, and I felt gratitude and guilt build up inside me once more.

_To think I barely gave them much thought besides how much time Killua was spending with Gon…_I bit my lip to help hold back the overwhelming urge to cry. _I don't deserve their support _or _their friendship. _

But I was selfish. There was no denying the fact. I would soak up as much of their friendship as I could _while _I could. I didn't deserve their support, but I would take it anyway. And make sure to give a damn about them in return like I should have been doing this whole time, and not just for Gon's benefit.

I squeezed Gon's hand and blindly reached for Leorio's as well. The only thing I wanted as much as Gon's love and support was Auntie to be here to hug me and tell me that it was going to be okay. It didn't matter that it wasn't true, and that her embracing me wouldn't shield me from the world; knowing that an adult would love and protect me was enough to make me feel safe and untouchable.

But, neither Auntie nor Granny were here. Leorio, on the other hand, was the closest thing to an adult of our group of adolescents, and with the maturity he showed when he wanted to check my injuries earlier was enough to let myself pretend that I had a sane adult man here to look after me. Well, one that _didn't _have perverted or sinister ulterior motives like the _other _man I've spent the last couple of days with.

Leorio looked down at me in surprise when I grabbed his hand. I gave him a shy smile and tried not to look _too _pathetic. I was twelve, not two. His brown eyes softened and he gave me a reassuring smile. I swallowed and looked forward once more. For the first time in years, I thought about what could have been if Ging hadn't abandoned us.

**XXX**

As soon as we boarded the ferry, Gon dragged me off to a secluded corner. The other boys followed, and once we were seated on the deck, Gon started in. "What happened in the tower, sis?"

I took a deep breath and found it slightly amusing that I was so stressed and fearful of this moment. It seemed like a silly thing to worry about _now _when I had much worse things to worry about. "Well, I was trying to join you guys by the tower's edge at the beginning of the exam when I accidently fell through a trapdoor. After I fell, well…so did someone else…"

When I paused, unsure of what kind of reaction my words will bring, Leorio let out an impatient, "Well, who was it?"

"It was Hisoka." Killua answered for me. Gon and Leorio gasped, while Kurapika nodded. I just stared at the two in shock. They figured it out already…

"What? It's obvious." Killua shrugged. "He was the second person to draw a card, so he was the second person to make it through the tower."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they made it through together!" Leorio refuted. "I heard that ninja guy boasting about making it through by himself in record time!"

Killua shrugged again. "Yeah, but why else would Guren be so reluctant to talk about how she got beat up? It was Hisoka, wasn't it?" He asked me directly.

I hesitated for a second, contemplating again about lying about the magician's involvement. Nah, there was no reason to dig _that _hole. "Yeah, Hisoka ended up falling into the first room with me. Luckily, we both had to make it to the bottom of the tower _alive."_ I gently touched the bruise on my chin and let my eyes drift away from the boy's increasingly angry eyes. "That didn't stop him from wanting to have a 'friendly' fight, though…"

"Shit, that reminds me! Come here, I'll check over your wounds, Guren." Leorio said while waving his hands. I nodded, thankful that someone with medical expertise would help fix me up.

While I let Leorio look over my visible ouchies, the worst being on my chin and my legs, Gon was starting to develop a scowl. It was an expression that didn't belong on my beloved brother's face. "So Hisoka just beat you up for fun? Was this before or after you had 'death matches'?"

Ah, I forgot that I mentioned that earlier. "...It was before. I basically let him take the lead on all the puzzles and, um, _stuff _through the tower until we got to the prisoners. We both had to fight two and-"

"Jesus, what the hell happened _here, _Guren?!" Leorio suddenly exclaimed, and I looked down to where he was prodding at. I was surprised to see strangely shaped yellow bruising on my thigh that disappeared into my shorts. _When did I get those? I don't remember getting hit there._

In fact, they looked kind of like fingers-

_The way his fingers moved beneath the fabric of my shorts was almost hypnotic. I couldn't help but watch in stunned fascination as the clawed digits poked out from the hemline and how dangerously close his thumb was to my crotch._

_Hisoka pressed chaste kisses up my neck, and kneaded my thigh. Panicked, I crossed my legs to keep his hand from trying to explore too far again. Hisoka made a deep humming sound right into my ear and tightened his grip on my leg hard, making me hiss in pain._

I swallowed hard and bit the inside of my cheek. Heat was warming my face and belly at the memory.

"Sis? Hey, what's wrong?" Gon asked worriedly, looking over my face. Killua also looked befuddled, but Leorio's face was also starting to get red, but the look in his eyes showed that it wasn't for the same reasons as me.

_Oh no, this isn't something I wanted them to find out! What will they think of me if they knew I just sat in Hisoka's lap as he...he...as he m-mast-AS HE DID WHAT HE DID? _"It isn't what it looks like!" I blurted out, stopping Leorio's hand as it tried to push my short hem up higher. The bruise was already telling without seeing what I'm sure is a perfect replica of Hisoka's handprint. Leorio snapped his angry gaze up to meet mine, and I almost flinched at the disgusted fury.

"What's going on?" Gon's voice cut off Leorio before he could reply. My brother sounded frustratingly confused. Killua was looking at Leorio, trying to find the answer to his sudden anger. But when I looked over a Kurapika, his reaction was the scariest.

His face was stoic, as if we were talking about something boring and mundane as what the stones of the prison tower were made of, but his eyes were locked onto my thigh, and they were glowing scarlet.

I felt the situation tilt even more sideways. "It's nothing, guys!" I pleaded, trying to keep my voice down. Most of the boat was already staring, but as far as I knew they couldn't hear us. "Bruises aren't the worst injuries I got when going against those prisoners." I said, hoping to avert their wrath from Hisoka and onto the long dead men I'd already killed. Then, I thought of what might just distract them enough to fully forget about the handprint. "Besides, Leorio," His attention was pulled away from glaring at the oblivious Hisoka on the other side of the boat and back to me. "I got stabbed in my last deathmatch; will you please make sure it's healing alright?" I asked with the cutest voice I could, my Gon impression leaking out as well.

The young doctor's eyes widened in shock. "You got freaking stabbed?!" He exclaimed, loudly. The handprint forgotten, he quickly lifted my shirt so it was bunched under my small bust and gaped at the horrible discoloration dotting my abdomen and the professionally wrapped bandage covering my worst wound.

Gon gasped out my name and quickly hovered even closer to me, acting like I was about to bleed out before his very eyes. I reached out and patted him on the head. "I'm okay, big bro. It looks worse than it is."

"Damn, none of us got hurt at all against in our matches," Killua said, looking at my wounds. He still had that cool look on his face, but his eyes showed that he was feeling just as much pity and concern as the other boys.

Kurapika rested a hand on my shoulder and bent so he was eye level with me. His eyes were thankfully grey again. "Are you in a lot of pain, Guren?"

"I have pain meds with me, Guren! Hold on, I grab you some!" Leorio piped in, rummaging through his briefcase.

I shook my head to both of them. "No, I'm not in as much pain anymore. It still hurts, but it's nothing I can't handle. I don't need pills, Leorio." I said, waving my hand at him when he held out two tablets.

"Yes you do! They just help dampen the pain, nothing else." He insisted, pushing them towards me again.

Like hell I was swallowing those horse pills! I'll choke! "No way, their huge. I couldn't even if I wanted to." I said, turning my face away to prove my point.

Leorio growled, "You brat! We have water you can take it with so you don't choke!"

"Not happening."

I peeked over towards the other boys and saw that they were trying to hide their smiles at my childish antics. Gon knew first hand that I hated medicine, _especially _pills. I hid my own smile, happy to have helped lighten the mood around our little group.

It didn't last long.

One of the eye-mark brothers wandered closer to us and made the snide comment, "I feel bad for you guys. That girl's going to be the death of you!"

Gon and I frowned in unison and turned towards the young man. It was the same one who let everyone know that he was all for killing for badges. The other two of the trio were nearby, smirking knowingly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gon demanded, looking offended by the comments.

"Didn't you know? Guren and that maniac _Hisoka _have become the _best of friends. _Two little psycho peas in a pod. I'd watch out for your sister, boy. It's only a matter of time before she turns on you, or worse, gives you up to that killer clown!"

I felt more than saw Gon tense up at the accusation. I quickly grabbed his arm, making sure he didn't lash out. I saw Kurapika do the same to Leorio in my peripherals. I grit my teeth and glared up at the jackass who was trying to turn my twin against me. "Okay, there were a lot of things in that sentence that _I didn't like." _

He only smirked down at me. "Well, why don't you do something about it, then? You and your victims- oops, I mean _friends,_ can meet us on the south side of the island tonight. We can settle things fairly there." He goaded, and sauntered back towards the other two.

I watched him leave with a deadpan stare. Did he think we were stupid?

Kurapika echoed my sentiments. "He's just trying to lead us into a trap, obviously."

Leorio scoffed and gave them a smirk of his own. "Like we'd fall for that."

His ploy got me thinking, though. He won't be the only one to try to target my brother and friends just to get to me and my ID. Now that I think about it, taking this phase with my brother wouldn't be such a good idea after all. If something happened, and someone threatened or hurt Gon for my badge, I could never forgive myself. Not just for putting him in that position, but because I would give my badge over without hesitation and probably get us both killed.

And only I would wake back up to deal with the consequences afterwards.

A shudder ran down my spine at the thought. Gon was giggling with Killua over Leorio's postering. I smiled at my wonderful brother and felt regret and a deep sadness. I needed to do this phase by myself. For both our sakes.

**XXX**

Gon and company weren't happy when I told them that I would be going it alone. Not one bit. I was already prepared for that, though. Without saying anything outright, I told them that I'd have my imaginary friend with me, so not to worry. Killua thought that was stupid, while Kurapika and Leorio just thought it was a phase I was still going through like a lot of normal kids. Only Gon got what I was implying, and he looked a little more relieved.

We went our separate ways for a while. Leorio and Kurapika sat together for a bit, before splitting. Gon, Killua and I sat together for the first thirty minutes of the ride as well, but I left them in a huff when Gon wouldn't tell me who he got for his target and showed Killua instead! I even showed both of them my number, hoping that they would know! Not only did they not know either, but they had to audacity to show each other theirs while hiding them from view right in front of me!

So now I was sitting at the roof of the cabin away from everyone for the rest of the boat ride to Zevil Island by myself. According to our host...whatever her name was, it was still going to be over an hour before we got there.

I snuck glances at Hisoka now and then. When I was looking for a place to sit, I contemplated going over sit with me out of spite, but quickly crossed that idea off when I noticed Pins and Needles next to him. Nope.

As much as I was enjoying the time and space away from him, I was really curious to see who his target was. And hoping to god it wasn't me. I wasn't _too _worried that he would want to go after me for my points, seeing as that would be too quick and easy for him. I'm sure his plan is to just kill anyone that crosses his path and pass with multiple badges, the bloodthirsty psycho.

Careful that nobody was looking, I summoned up Sandy, willing him through our link to be as quiet as possible. As the black sand took shape, I changed my position from sitting to lying down on my stomach, feet kicking in the air. The black ghost copied my position across from me, kicking his feet in unison with his head resting in his much larger hands. It was very cute.

"Wanna see this new trick I learned?" I whispered, focusing on coating my index finger with black sand when he nodded. He tilted his head like a puppy once the pad of my finger was completely covered in shifting black grains of sand. I started drawing lightly on the metal roof we were laying on, making a tic tac toe board. It was much harder to keep up my shrouded finger than before, and I can only assume it was because Sandy was out as well. Practice makes perfect!

For the rest of the trip, Sandy and I played games and drew on the roof, enjoying the quiet solitude we had with each other.

**XXX**

"Thanks for your patience, everyone! We've finally arrived at Zevil Island!" Our host chirped and the departing plank was deployed. Now, please disembark in the order by which you cleared the third phase!"

Hah, I figured they would have us do that. Luckily, I've been strategizing for the past hour. Going first is the best thing possible for me. I glanced over at the person departing after me on the other side of the boat. _The only thing I'm uncertain of is _him…

"You'll all disembark one at a time at two-minute intervals. You will stay on this island for exactly one week. During that time, you must collect your six points and return to this location!"

I blinked rapidly at that. _What?! We have to stay here for a whole WEEK?_

That wasn't in my plans! "All right, the first person may begin!" Wait, I need to revise!

When I didn't move, heads turned towards me and Killua gave me a push towards the plank. I quickly schooled my features so I didn't show that I was freaking out, and walked off the boat at a brisk pace. I ignored the glares from all around me, and the unreadable looks from Hisoka and surprisingly, Hanzo. When I glanced around, I didn't see any badges in sight and lamented my bad luck. Seems like only Killua, Gon, and Hisoka were brave enough to have theirs out on display. I played it smart and hid mine in my back pocket for now until I could think of a better place besides my bra.

As soon as I stepped foot onto the island, I _dashed _forward towards the forest as fast as I could with my leg still giving me trouble. I had two minutes to get as far away as I could from the start, but by showing off a fraction of my true speed, they'll hopefully assume that I'm going to the far side of the island.

As soon as I got past the thicker part of the forest, I took a left and headed towards where the three brothers wanted to ambush me, and proceeded to climb the tallest tree I could find. I climbed _just _high enough where I wouldn't be plainly visible to anyone on the ferry if they had exceptionally good eyesight, but high enough to where I could see the boat and all the little dots still on it.

I would wait here for a while before finding a good hiding spot by some water. There were plenty of wildlife from the smells I've been picking up, so I wouldn't have to worry about food. _Cooking _anything without drawing attention would be something to worry about later, but I could just sleep in a tree and have Sandy keep an eye out for anyone coming up on me.

Yes, I would make it through this phase. I had to believe that Gon would too, and that he didn't have a dangerous target.

**XXX**

**See you next chapter! Ja ne**


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